Hate Your Heroes
by Buckle
Summary: When the world turns against them, the heroes become the hated, and the only people who believe them is each other. Last time they had to save the world. Now, they have to make the world believe it.
1. Prologue

When the world turns against them, the heroes become the hated, and the only people who believe them is each other…and their old enemies.

Last time they had to save the world.

Now, they have to make the world believe it.

**Prologue**

"It's over," she whispered, eyes wide. "Its over…"

The group was lined up against the rail of the Highwind, having just watched the Lifestream spill over the world, after watching Sephiroth fall and Holy come. At some point, they'd linked hands, and silent tears ran down their face. Now they stood dumbfounded as the night shined down upon them, casting the heroes faces into sharp relief. The moonlight slid over each face, lighting tear tracks and wrapping around linked hands.

"Can you believe it?" Yuffie stared forward into the gaping night, tears having run unabashed down her face. "It's over."

Tifa squeezed her hand. After months and months of searching, fighting, battling, complaining, laughing, yelling, talking, jokes and heartbreak, it was over. After life, death, praying, cursing, hell and high water, it was over. Maybe that was why they couldn't let go of each others hands; they held so tightly it was as though the others would disappear if they let go. Yuffie was aware of everything around them, every star that bloomed in the night and every tear that ran down her companion's faces. She was aware of the hand on her right that dwarfed hers, the owner having shocked her by actually accepting to hold a hand, and she was aware of the callused hand, gloved and strong, that held her left. She was aware of the black and brown hair that tickled her cheeks as it blew, and her own short hair being whipped way.

"Everything will be different now," Tifa said quietly.

If only they knew.

--

A/N: Hate Your Heroes. I was going to wait much longer to post this, but then...I didn't want to. So here goes the Prologue and Chapter One. Technically, I only have roughly three chapters. Bad me, I know. I say roughly because I decided not to divide it into chapters until I post it or later, for now, I just write.

I didn't want to have two major stories up at the same time. Oh well.

**Disclaimer:** Don't own FF7 world or anything Square Enix owns. This applies to whole fic.

**Claimer: **I own this plot line. And I Love it very much. IF you use it, I'll hunt you down and gut you like a fish. 'Kay? Yay.


	2. A World Gone Mad

**Chapter One**

A World Gone Mad

_I'm a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world…and I am getting along. _

That had been over a year ago. Yuffie stepped out of the shower and twisted a towel around her hair and perched it on her head. Wrapping another towel around her body, she shivered at the cool air. Quickly drying her skin, she then pulled on clothes and over her clothes placed a simple, short pink dress. Looking in the mirror, her heart knotted – it looked like Aeris's dress. The wound caused by her death, despite it having been inflicted over a year ago, was still fresh. Little things pricked and poked at the old scar, making it bleed anew. Yuffie shook her head, one hand on the towel, and pulled on her matching pink heels, sighing at herself. Popping in blue colored contacts, she blinked a couple times to let them adjust to her eyes. Finally she unwrapped the towel and tucked her hair under the long, blonde wig in a practiced manner.

She sighed at her reflection and shook her head. The wig was very realistic, not one of the cheap Halloween ones, and had she been someone else, she wouldn't know who she was. Not that a Wutain would ever naturally have blonde hair, but it looked as though the long, belly button length hair was actually hers. So she bundled her clothes in a towel and made sure there was no trace of her presence before she left the house she'd broken into. Heading out to the alley, she went over to a metal trash bin that was surrounded by sleeping bums, and dumped the clothes inside. Next to the trash bin was a tiny can of oil the bums used for fire starting, and spilled the oil all over the clothes. Lighting a match, she tossed it into the can and walked away, leaving her old identity behind and emerging blonde, blue eyed and hopelessly pink.

Of course, any unnatural looking Wutain was greeted with suspicion, so she whipped out her pink razor phone and babbled away to a no one. People didn't glance at her then, so after a little while she finally snapped it shut.

Turning, she stared into the window of an electronics store and her eyes focused on the multiple TVs stacked in the windows. They were all turned to the same news station. Her heart plopped into her stomach as the newscaster's words met her ears. "And as usual," the newscaster said, a new sharpness to his tone. "Auhncore pleads the public to stay on constant alert. Though nearly all the members of AVALANCHE have been apprehended, Vincent Valentine-" A picture of a dark man looking away from the camera slid onto the screen, "and Yuffie Kisaragi, heir to the Wutain throne," her own, year old picture flashed, "are both on the loose. We beg you to stay on alert. Recent sightings, though not yet confirmed, include a claim of the gunslinging Valentine near the roughlands of Mideel."

Then a video of the President of Auhncore appeared on the screen, apparently answering a question at a press conference. "Yes, it is true that Mister Valentine and Mis- Princess Kisaragi are two very dangerous members of AVALANCHE –thus why they have eluded us so long. However, we don't believe either are posing an immediate threat to the public, but we beg any sightings to be reported. The other members of AVALANCHE, as you know, are in custody and we are taking every effort to find the other two."

"This is Channel 13 News from Midgar."

Yuffie kept walking. As she pretended to answer her phone, she gave a fake little gasp. "Oh my god I _know_! I just saw a TV with that news people-guy on it and he was all 'oh my god that creepy Valentine dude and Princess chick are on the loose still.' Ew. He's like, a rapist or a vampire or something, right?" Yuffie gabbed, sending a silent apology to Vincent. Well, on the rapist part. The vampire part was yet to be proven wrong. And vampire till proven innocent, Yuffie always said. Well not always. Well, she'd probably never said that. But that wasn't the point.

She walked on, and her eyes landed on a man coming out of a café. Her lips slid into a smile and she pretended to dial a new number and jabbered away with 'Mandi' having finished talking to 'Candi' and will next dial 'Sandi.' People on either side of her rolled their eyes and she acted in typical dumb blonde fashion, constantly giggling and acting confused. Purposefully she kept dropping her purse and bent to pick it up, knowing full well the skirt was riding up to a dangerous degree, her eyes slipping behind her a couple times. Finally, when she spilled her makeup, a man knelt by her side and flashed smile. "May I help?"

She picked her phone up and tucked it in the purse, and smiled. "I'm just so clumsy…" she said, shaking her head and giving a hopeless sigh. He smiled.

"Are you going somewhere?" he asked.

She sighed. "I was going to go dump my boyfriend and I'm just _so_ nervous. After all, I don't have anywhere to go. …And I, um, don't know why I'm telling you this. Thank you, so sorry…"

"It's no problem," he smiled winningly. "I always have time. They say a stranger is just a friend you having met yet, right?"

She laughed. "That is what they say."

"Don't you have family?"

She shook her head and answered, "Orphan."

The man grinned, and though someone else might miss it, Yuffie saw the wickedness. "I'm Daniel Powd."

She gave a smile. "Lili Launders."

"Well Lili Launders – why don't we go to lunch, and you can tell me all about your boyfriend?"

Yuffie reached into her pocket and punched in a text. "I'd love to," she grinned and linked her arm through his, letting herself be led down the street. She hit send.

_**Got him.**_

And in another place, a cell phone buzzed quietly. A small hand reached out and flipped it open, and the seven year old read the text message received. A small smile appeared on soft lips, and the message was erased, cell phone put on the table. "We're coming Daddy," she whispered, kissing a small picture tucked in her pocket. Her eyes rose to the ceiling above, where greenery spread through dark cracks. "We're gonna get you saved."

* * *

And so he was caught.

Yuffie surveyed the bound, gagged and sweating man with a look of contempt. The knots that bound him were small and tight, leaving no room for movement as they cut into his skin. His breathing was frantic, and he looked up at Yuffie with bewildered eyes. After she reached down and removed his gag, she sat down on a chair next to the deep bathtub that contained him.

"Lili?" he asked, but then after staring at her, a chuckle came to his lips as well as a seeming revelation. "Hey babe, I didn't know you were into bondage but-"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Listen," she said sharply, her false voice and attitude disappearing down the drain. "Auhncore hired you, secretly, to locate a certain Vincent Valentine."

His eyes widened. "Is _that_ was this is about?"

"What else?" she glared. "Now, you can answer my questions and I'll be a nice little blonde. Or, you can refuse, and I'll have to torture on your ass. It will not be fun."

"They'll kill me."

Yuffie laughed a laugh not her own and leaned forward, voice dropping to a whisper. "Auhncore should be the least of your worries."

Bleary, red-rimmed eyes stared at her, trying to understand, disbelieving. "And what exactly, is it to you?"

Her lips drew into a line and she stood again, turning to face the mirror. She stared at her reflection. "…Everything."

At last, his eyes widened in understanding. "Whoah, whoah, do you mean you're-"

Yuffie laughed and shook her head. "Don't be stupid. Why would a wanted person go parading around in public? Let's just say I'm interested in such affairs."

He was stuck between mistrust and the truth of her words – even if they were false. Then, he looked at the ceiling, thinking. Staring past the tiles, eyes at last flicked over to her. "I'm not getting out of here alive, am I?" he whispered.

She tilted her head down, in shame, and shook her head. "Probably not," she said quietly. "Not if you don't tell me what I want to know. So what have you found out a bout the whereabouts of a certain Mr. Valentine?"

He said nothing.

Yuffie sighed. "Listen, Dan-Man. How bout this? If you tell me, I'll let you walk. How does that sound? But if you go running to the authorities, I'll come back, and kill you. Or get someone else to do it. And the people I'm thinking of will hardly be gentle. Even if you do tell the authorities, you will have no proof."

"You're not superhuman. People saw you with me."

"And that's about it. Plus, no one who would remember saw. And you have a girlfriend who would, in a second, vouch you were with her, because she is so in denial of your cheating habits."

His eyes narrowed. "Just how long have you been watching me?"

Yuffie shrugged. "A while. And boy, you sure do know how to pick him. How's that Josy, anyway?"

Daniel glared, but when she met it evenly, he sighed. "Still contained."

"Boy oh boy, even when a chick is crazy you never expect them to actually wind up in the asylum." Yuffie laughed sharply before switching topics. "So there is no escape. Tell me what you know."

Daniel paused, and then nodded. "Could you at least sit me up?" Yuffie shook her head, and he glared, but spoke. "Investigating with Vincent has been slow, but already I have more information that most people have gotten in months. But believe me, that isn't much. I spoke to a little girl in Icicle Inn who swears she saw a man with red eyes, but her parents also say that she claimed to have seen the Window Washer serial killer when the man had never been near the town in his life."

"Don't compare Vincent with the Window Washer," Yuffie said quietly.

Daniel shot her a glare. "Oh, so you're one of those AVALANCHE-sympathizers?"

A fierce glare that could rival the heat of Ifrit was shot back at him. "AVALANCHE saved your life!"

He snorted. "AVALANCHE was at the heart of the trouble. They worked with Sephiroth only to turn against him, so the world would think them heroes."

"They _are_ Heroes!" Yuffie growled.

"AVALANCHE turned an amazing general to evil and insanity and made the world believe it!" Daniel cried, "And your Mr. Valentine is as bad as it comes! He killed Lucrecia Crescent and-"

More quickly than he could blink, Yuffie Kisaragi had drawn a gun and laid it to Daniel's forehead. Cold, unforgiving metal pushed against his hot, sweaty skin. Her muscles shook and her jaw was clenched with a white-hot rage and passion. "Vincent Valentine did not kill Lucrecia Crescent," she hissed fiercely, "and we've spent a good time convincing him as much."

Leaning in close, she put her lips next to his ear and grinned a little. "I am Yuffie Kisaragi, heir to the Wutain throne, _proud_ member of AVALANCHE and wanted fugitive of the law. May you burn in hell, Daniel Powd, and when you get there, say hi to Sephiroth for me."

One last gasp was taken before a single squeeze of a trigger made thunder erupt in the room. Crimson bloomed on his forehead, and Daniel Powd lived no more. Spitting with rage, Yuffie dropped the gun and eyed it with distaste. She didn't and would never like guns. Ever. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a picture that had worn down edges and housed 9 people – well, 8 people and a robot.

"The world's gone mad," she whispered to her friends, running fingers over the ruined edges of the picture, "and now they hate their heroes."

* * *

It had started soon after they landed in Midgar. The world had cheered and the people had cried with joy, and they clapped and patted their heroes on the back. But AVALANCHE knew that though they'd saved the world, the world was far from saved. They plunged into the rebuilding effort, though at first it was a search. Rubble was moved as people searched for their loved ones, hoping to find them alive, even beneath the rocks. Too many mothers cried over lost children and too many children found themselves alone. Too many lovers cried for their missing half, and far too many friends found themselves friendless. Still, they dove in, leading the way, a beacon in the night.

They found out more about ShinRa than anyone could have wanted, from the sick experiments of Hojo to the horrible corruption in the upper ranks. But then, from the ashes, a corporation rose anew. Auhncore.

They had been so stupid. They should have known that ShinRa would never leave without their last bow.

They should have known ShinRa would take its Encore.

And so Auhncore rose, little by little, deceiving the people into loving them and trusting them. Auhncore isn't Shinra, they thought. Auhncore will help; order, organization, even if just for this brief time of panic. It was to supply the things needed until a government could be made. But ShinRa had left too dark a mark in the people's lives, and not all could forget. During a time of post-crisis such as this, the people needed someone to cling to, to depend on. And they found this in AVALANCHE; their saviors. Their heroes. So they let AVALANCHE lead the way, watching as each member was right along with the people in digging through the rubble. AVALANCHE weren't just their heroes, they were real; they were people like everyone else. If they could be heroes, anyone could. Auhncore, unfortunately, saw this. They saw that the people were clinging to AVALANCHE, and how much they admired their heroes. But they also saw that AVALANCHE members were people, just like the rest, and they knew one crushing fact; people aren't invincible - people can be brought down.

Auhncore's first major blow happened fast. When they were working in a section of Midgar, a tired mother was holding her baby as she searched through the rubble. The baby started wailing, but the mother was fresh on her duty and didn't want to give up. So Tifa had walked over and kindly took the baby into her arms. A person in the crowd – they later discovered he was a plant from Auhncore, waiting for something like this – sprang up.

"_Don't give her your child!" the man yelled, standing in a high place on the rubble, pointing an accusing finger down at Tifa. He was the picture of a holy punisher, light shining behind him as he stood on his mountain of rubble, eyes blaring. Tifa looked up at him, bewildered and confused as she gently bounced the cooing baby boy in her arms._

_The man marched down, arm still outstretched and single finger pointing. The mother looked as startled as everyone else. "What are you talking about? That's Tifa Lockhart, you know!" the mother smiled at the fistfighter. When the man marched next to them, the mother looked at him as though he wasn't the brightest bulb. "Sweet girl, part of AVALANCHE."_

_The man glared fiercely. "I _know_ who she is, probably even more than you do!" Everyone had turned to see the commotion, and gathered around the stubborn-chinned man, whose brows were knitted closely together. He turned to the crowd. "I thought 'You know, all this AVALANCHE stuff is kinda fishy! Appearing just when ShinRa falls.' So I looked into their background." He now turned back to Tifa, white-hot glare not reduced in the slightest. "Did you know that she was tour guide to Sephiroth himself? She _met_ the man, and she hardly looks unhappy here!" he reached into his pocket and whipped out the picture of Tifa, Zack and Sephiroth._

_The baby sniffled. "Sephiroth was famous then. It was an honor." Tifa said, making a face. "We didn't know what he would become."_

"_But isn't it true!" the man screeched, "that during that very same trip he burnt down Nibelheim, and 'coincidentally' you not only got out alive, but sustained no injuries at all?"_

"_That isn't true!" she protested._

_By this time, the other members of AVALANCHE had marched over. "What's going on?" Cloud asked, wiping dust and dirt from a ruddy face._

"_And you!" the man yowled, turning his condemning finger to Cloud. He looked at the crowd. "You've maybe heard of the tragic death of Aeris?" Some nodded, and others tutted in sympathy, and others merely looked confused. The man turned back to Cloud with his eyes blazing. "Isn't it true that before Sephiroth murdered her, you yourself, Cloud Strife, turned your sword onto her and tried to slaughter Aeris Gainsborough?"_

_The crowd turned to Cloud as though they watched a ping pong match. Their eyes were wide, condemning. Cloud's head dropped, eyes devouring his shoes. "It won't deny it," he said quietly. The crowd gasped and erupted in talk._

"_Ah-Hah! So what makes you so much better than Sephiroth, __hero__?" he spat, the last word a curse in his mouth._

"_You wait right there!" Tifa shouted, glaring as she handed the baby back. Silence rang throughout the area. "You weren't there," Tifa's voice quivered, fists clenched as her muscles shook with white-hot rage. "You weren't there to see how her death killed him, broke him."_

"_But why haven't you told the world, AVALANCHE," he roared, "that each one of you are far less than honorable than you make yourself out to be!"_

_Arguments and shouting broke through the area, filling the air until one bellow broke though it all. "STOP!" The cry pierced the air and cut through the noise until all was silent, and everyone looked around for the source of the loud noise…and found it in 5 feet and 2 inches of sixteen year old._

_Yuffie was fuming; actually, she was beyond fuming, boiling and stewing in rage. Marching forward she met the man's eyes directly, and to everyone's (including her own) surprise, the man shifted uncomfortably. "We didn't set out to be heroes," she said, her slow whisper fierce enough for all to hear. "But somewhere along the way, it happened! We didn't _ask_ for any of this!"_

"_Really Princess?" he asked sleekly, barely hiding a cruel smile. "It seems a lot of 'accidents' have happened in your life."_

_No one could miss Yuffie's immediate tenseness; as soon as his words were uttered she became as stiff as a board, jaw clenched and legs rooted firmly into the ground. "I don't know what you mean," she muttered rigidly._

_He gave a conniving, close-lipped smile. "So you have never committed murder?"_

_Yuffie was even tighter, and her fingers looked as though they itched to go to a shruiken. "…" Not even Yuffie laughed when Cid, in the background, whispered, "She's pulling a Vincent!"_

"_So you deny that you killed your mother?" the man asked smugly._

_The crowd stared, and worse than the chatter from before, was completely silent. Their eyes bored holes into her, trying to peer past her skin into her very core. Yuffie looked as though she was battling to hold back rage and tears; and she was losing. "Do not judge lest you be judged." Yuffie shot back, jaw clenched. "And don't you cry witchcraft unless you're prepared for those you love to hang."_

_The man gave a slow, tight-lipped smile. "Oh don't worry Princess. I'm ready."_

At first it was hard for anyone to accept. But the first stone was cast, and more kept being thrown. On TV, breakthrough news reports were announcements of their deepest secrets, such as Dyne's death. The exception was that the stories were all twisted to cast the AVALANCHE members in a bad light. They said Barret killed Dyne so he wouldn't take Marlene back; Yuffie's refusal to deny that she killed her mother was blared from the rooftops. They said that Vincent was an adulterant who killed Hojo out of jealousy and because Hojo was 'in the way.'

The worst part was that they had proof.

They dug up a journal of Lucrecia's; they found a letter Yuffie had written at age 7. They salvaged a security camera that had part of the encounter with Dyne; of course, they only played the parts that made Barret look bad. They portrayed Red as a savage beast, showing a tape of Nanaki when he was trapped with Aeris; only they left out the part Nanaki admitted he had been pretending. They saved their weakest arguments for when the public was nearly convinced and thus they claimed Cid hadn't cared if Shera had died during the space mission, and had to be near wrestled to be forced to stop the mission; and they dug up an old crew member to give his version – Auhncore's version – of the event.

Then they brought up false evidence and strung together a story. They said that AVALANCHE had been the original creator of the plot to destroy the world and that Cloud had turned Sephiroth into an evil maniac. Auhncore claimed that AVALANCHE had turned Sephiroth evil in the eyes of the world so that they might gain glory. Auhncore made it seem as though Sephiroth had been running from AVALANCHE and his attempt to end the world was the last attempt of a desperate man; an attempt to stop AVALANCHE from chasing him that merely got out of hand.

The people were convinced. Auhncore rose up, having successfully discredited the heroes of The Planet. Now the people clung to Auhncore, leaned on Auhncore for support. Auhncore had risen, but AVALANCHE hadn't completely fallen. Then came the day of the Great Edge Riot.

_AVALANCHE had been adamant; even with all the charges the public was forcing on them, they still marched out every day, their dignity shredded and pride wounded, and kept helping clean Midgar. People gave them a wide berth, but still they plugged on, working just as everyone else and fighting to keep their heads held high. They continued on, never mind how Tifa's chin quivered when the children shied away from her; never mind the glares people gave Vincent, whispering to their friends of how he 'took advantage of a woman' and 'killed her and her husband in the end.' _

_Auhncore had risen in power to the extent that they were gathering people under them, thus beginning to form a twisted company-government just as ShinRa had. They even had a justice system, hiring people from Midgar so it was all the more believable. The Turks were employed, though very few knew it – AVALANCHE being one of these few._

_Finally, just as before, an Auhncore plant in the crowd shouted out his protests. "I refuse to work alongside of murderers and rapists!" he cried, pointing at Auhncore. Never mind that the charges against Vincent had been adultery, not rape. It made the crier all the more believable, since the gossip of the public warped opinions._

_People roared their consent, grateful someone had at last spoke up. Yuffie stopped her work, wiping grime from her face and propping her hands on her hips. On the other hand, Tifa, Cloud, Reeve, Vincent and Red kept working, heads bowed. Cid, however, stopped as well. He leaned on his spear as Barret stood behind Yuffie, a giant, bear-like shadow. Yuffie glared around, chin held high, however brokenly. "Yuffie," Cloud muttered. "Barret, Cid…"_

"_No Spike, I ain't takin' this shit no more." Barret growled. _

_The crowd buzzed. "AVALANCHE isn't safe!" a woman said, clutching at her boyfriend's arm – the man who had shouted out his protest. More shouts of protest and anger started, until the crowd began to jostle AVALANCHE. Closing in, they jeered insults and cried out their discomfort, until more people began to gather. Soon, a large crowd had gathered with AVALANCHE at its center, everyone forming a circle around them with a wide berth, as though they didn't want to get too close to them. Cid cursed, Yuffie glared, Barret growled and Tifa stared around at the people with a broken hope in her eyes._

_Then a shining knight appeared – well, for the people, anyway. A voice cried out from the walkways through Midgar. "I have here a warrant!" the head of the SP cried. SP was the nickname for Auhncore's investigative police, though no one was sure what it stood for. Some said 'Secret Police,' but the vast majority agreed that the name stood for 'Snow Patrol.' The chief SP stood, stoic officers behind him in a row, and he paused for the crowd to turn. "For every member of AVALANCHE's arrest!"_

_The crowd gave an approving roar, and AVALANCHE stared at each other. But staring in disbelief would not help their plight, and the crowd was closing in. So at the same time, the mouths of eight people opened, and eight pairs of eyes met._

"_Run," Cloud whispered._

_A flash bomb was dropped, most likely by their ninja, and along with the flash was a sound like an eruption. The people drew back and clutched at their ears while the eight members of AVALANCHE split into eight different directions and ran for their lives. By the time the shock of the flash bomb had worn, AVALANCHE was already shoving, elbowing and kneeing their way through the vast crowd. "Get them!" The Chief SP roared, his amber eyes sparking with a deadly rage. But with a roar of an engine, and the rising of an airship, AVALANCHE was gone. Guns rattled off shots at the departing motorcycle and airship, but all efforts were in vain. AVALANCHE was gone._

_The hunt was on._

* * *

**A/N:** Yes I know 'ugh, another Yuffie-centric?' Well, yup. Pairings are yet to be decided (though I do have some general ideas) so your input is needed. Want to know what I'm thinking? Well, it will most definately have CloTi moments, but if that will work out, who knows. Maybe Yuffentine, maybe Reffie. Possibly ReevexMinorOC, definately CidxShera. Thoughts? Opinions? On parings or (well, preferably) the story.

I don't like leaving just the prologue, so that is why the first chapter is up the next day.

I realized the beginning might sound like it is referring to the quote being blah blah time ago, but it's referring to the prologue. I thought it was a little obvoius, but you never know.

Hope I haven't disappointed, and hope you enjoyed.


	3. How Far We've Fallen

**Chapter Two**

How Far We've Fallen

_I am aged and eaten, and have done my share of eating too._

They'd caught AVALANCHE eventually. Not that AVALANCHE went down without a fight, and just because AVALANCHE had been found didn't mean they'd been caught. They were AVALANCHE after all; they had beaten Sephiroth. They could defeat Auhncore's SP; after all AVALANCHE used to fight the Turks, and the SP just didn't compare. Yes, the Turks had been employed for Auhncore, but when AVALANCHE had been accused and nearly arrested the Turks had quit out of anger. Their anger was not developed because the Turks had developed a sudden sense of honor; it was two other things. For one, Reeve was their friend and their only surviving friend from ShinRa. Secondly, the new story make the Turks look like heroes for trying to take AVALANCHE down, as was Auhncore's intention. But the Turks weren't heroes, and no one knew that better than themselves; they were self-proclaimed monsters. Therefore they had broken away, disgusted, and gone to aid Reeve.

But gradually Auhncore caught the heroes. The first was Barret, and Barret's arrest had a mystery behind it. It was said that Barret was no so much caught as much as he walked into their clutches. Brought in, marched through the streets of Midgar in shame, people gathered – it was on TV as well – and Barret wasn't fighting. He wasn't angered, instead, resigned and beaten.

They hadn't caught Barret – they'd trapped him. No one was sure how, but it was obvious they hadn't won in combat; they'd caught him through sneaky underhand dealing. Barret had been marched in like a prisoner to his execution, and the city had cried for his death. But Auhncore stopped there; they claimed they wanted a public confession and they wanted him to admit his wrongdoings. If he didn't, he would be put to death.

Auhncore appealed to the AVALANCHE members remaining on the run, claiming that they would free Barret if they would only give themselves up. But AVALANCHE wasn't stupid. They continued to hide and run, smashing their PHS's and anything that would reveal them. They didn't make contact. They lived for months, not knowing if their friends lived or died.

Reeve was found next – found, but not captured. What AVALANCHE and the population didn't know – what no one knew – is that though the Turks had disappeared from the face of the Planet they had reappeared at Reeve's side. The Turks and Reeve beat down the forces of Auhncore and the four made a hasty retreat, disappearing from under Auhncore's noses.

The world roared and began searching with increased vigor. Wutai, already occupied by more Auhncore guards than the Auhncore building itself, was practically besieged. Auhncore guards turned houses inside out for any sign of the ninja. In Nibelheim, an angry mob torched the mansion, and they said the fire could be seen for miles. The last time Yuffie had seen Reeve he'd said as much, because apparently the Turks and Reeve had been on the plains and saw the fire and smoke. Yuffie wouldn't know how far the smoke could be seen as she'd been perched on a cave in the mountains, watching as the mansion burned.

She had been waiting for it – the discovery of the basement. But it was never found. The villagers buzzed with either anger or cheer, Yuffie couldn't tell, at the fact Vincent was either ashes (she doubted) or not there. Yuffie had quickly moved on.

Finally they'd caught a second member; Nanaki, Red XIII. He'd been found in a cave near Cosmo Canyon, and had defeated those who had first tried to capture him. His knowledge of the Canyons gave him confidence to sprint off. Only a day later, however, he was shot with a tranquilizer dart right outside the Ancient Forest. At least, they said it was one dart. Yuffie however, had heard a different story. One finds these things out, being a Super Amazing Ninja, after all.

There had been a threat. No one knew of this, as the area had been cleared, but Yuffie (actually, 'Tillie,' as she had been) seduced a drunken guard who'd been on the scene. He'd told her that Auhncore had threatened to blow up Cosmo Canyon with the people still inside. Now Yuffie wouldn't have taken them seriously, but Red did. Apparently he was on his way to justice, when – just for kicks – Auhncore did it anyway; partially, at least. A lower section of Cosmo Canyon was exploded (and since the town had grown _much_ bigger), and took many, many innocent lives. Nanaki had roared and sprinted forward to his people, to serve true justice when he'd been hit by no less than 15 tranquilizers. It could have killed him.

Auhncore wasn't just playing dirty – they were being downright pigs. So Yuffie had decided that they would reap their reward.

But apparently she wasn't the only one.

She'd been perched on a crossbeam outside Midgar (there was a construction project), when she'd seen something odd – a group of four, apparently a family, coming into Midgar. Too odd.

For one, no one walked into Midgar. They rode, flew, something. At least, not families like this. There was a father and a mother, pushing a stroller as a sullen, slumped teenage boy sulked behind. But something caught Yuffie's eye, which may have not caught anyone else's – but she was trained.

The sullen teenager drew out his hands for a moment to look at his watch, and when he shoved them back into his pocket, his sweatshirt shifted for the slightest moment. Yuffie's alarms screamed. She was a teenager, and had known enough of the sort to know a few things – sullen teenagers didn't wear high quality ShinRa watches.

And sullen teenagers didn't carry handguns.

So Yuffie risked everything and jumped down, rounding on the family. And sure enough, her suspicions were correct. This was no family, no more than she was Vincent Valentine – although she was currently Lehla, a tall, blonde haired, green eyed girl – and they weren't on a stroll.

_Yuffie – Lehla Bleu, for now – rounded on the 'family,' daggers hidden underneath a designer zip-up hoodie as she played with the tips of long blonde hair – hair that went to the end of her rib cage. Green eyes stared serenely at the odd family, and her glossed lips broke into a wide grin. Though someone else might not know, she would and could always tell – it was a gift._

_They seemed confused and wary at this unrecognizable person who rounded on them. The 'father' was a tall man with brown hair, thin glasses and a pressed green button down shirt and khaki slacks. He smiled and Yuffie jumped in surprise – even in disguise she would have never expected _that

_The mother carefully touched her palms to the sides of her short red hair, brown eyes looking worried as she carefully pushed the stroller back and forth. Her blouse and black skirt were perfectly pressed, Stepford Wife In the City. The faux-pearls around her neck perfected the look as she shifted with the stroller._

_The teenager made Yuffie almost laugh openly, slumped and wearing a sullen expression and beaten grey sweatshirt. He looked up at Yuffie and didn't bother to maintain the gaze, eyes drifting once again to his worn Converse. His hair was under a baseball while a few stray strands sticking out._

_Yuffie looked at the stroller and couldn't resist, her grin widening. Finally she made it disappear and waved. "Hello," she said to the teenager specifically, meeting his eyes. Then she nonchalantly looked at the sky. "Dreadful weather we're having, this Avalanche weather."_

_The brown eyes snapped up and fixed on her face, and Yuffie grinned in the Yuffie way. "I don't know," Reeve the teenager shrugged, but locked his eyes on hers. "Maybe if I read your fortune…?"_

_Yuffie put hands behind her blonde hair, and lifted it as though her neck was hot; lifted it just enough for a peek of black roots near her neck. She shrugged, suppressing her grin. "'Don't Panic.'"_

_Reeve laughed openly now, and Yuffie launched herself at Reeve in a giant hug. The fortune allusion was to the last fortune Cait Sith had given Yuffie, at a party only the night before the day of the First Accusation. It had been the only fortune of Cait Sith that even relatively made sense, and still they ragged on him for the obvious Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy reference. How cryptic it seemed now. _

_Elena and Rude were obviously confused, so Yuffie winked at them and moved her green contact to reveal pearl eyes and dropped her fake voice. "Turkeys," she said with distaste, wrinkling her nose. "Speaking of which…" Yuffie leaned down in front of the stroller, and peeled up the shielding top. _

"_Goo gah," a smug voice came from inside, and Yuffie jumped. A moving, very realistic replica of a baby was on top of green blankets, and then the blankets shifted and Reno popped up – promptly bumping his head. Yuffie gasped – his bright red hair had been dyed a dark brown. "Princess." He smirked._

"_Turkey."_

Long story short, they'd found out that Barret and Red were not in fact, in the building (not in any place they could reach, anyway), and thus decided that setting off any bombs or destroying anything would be ill-advised, since AVALANCHE was already plastered on Wanted posters all over town. But Yuffie would not stay idle and do nothing, so she wrote a simple, cryptic note and left it on the Head of Auhncore's desk.

_Nemo me impune lacessit_

It was a language long forgotten, but if Yuffie remembered correctly (and she was sure she did), it was in a short story about the narrator murdering another man. It was simple: No one wounds me with impunity. Yuffie had immediately looked up (Aka: asked Vincent) what impunity meant, and he had looked rather surprised (basically he looked at her prolonged and said "Wow Yuffie, I bow to your amazing geniusness. Let me kiss your blinding orange sneakers, please oh please." Well, maybe not those _exact_ words) but told her it meant 'without punishment.'

No one messes with Yuffie Kisaragi with impunity. For all your puny little minds, it means mess with Yuffie and Yuffie will do some major butt whooping.

She'd been pleased to hear the news stations were so chilled by the cryptic-ness that they didn't even report it. Didn't want to make people paranoid. Though she wished they had, so once this was all over and AVALANCHE was back together (because yes, that was what was going to happen), she could brag about her 'Latin' (as Nanaki had said it was) and her big fancy words. And knowing Vincent, he wouldn't even say that he had told her what it meant. Then again, you never knew with him.

Speaking of not knowing, where _was_ that boogeyman?

Anyway. They had parted ways for safety's sake, and unfortunately, Auhncore either tracked them, saw them or took a lucky stab because one week later Reeve was being taken in with handcuffs. He received the same conditions Barret and Red had received; confess and you'll just get prison, don't and you get the death penalty. The whole system was warped, guilty until proven guilty.

Yuffie figured she had gotten off easily that time. Apparently she had a knack for finding team members (some freaking _radar_ or something) because soon after she was being very ninja-like and sneaking around the Northern Continent (more like freezing her ass off) when she had run into yet another team member.

_She was walking towards a brown-haired man with hair that flopped into his brown eyes. He glared at her while lighting up a cigarette, and in that moment, Yuffie (currently a hazel eyed girl with deep red hair) saw the way he lit up his cigarette, the way he leaned back against the building and the way he drew it from his mouth and puffed, and she had to contain herself._

_She pretended to collide with him, and dropped all her bags. "Oh my god!" she said in her fake voice._

"_Watch it, ma'am," a deep drawl replied. She had squatted to pick up her stuff, and he helped. _

"_High Winds," she muttered._

_He stared, and unwittingly uttered the same words Yuffie had to another group. "Avalanche weather," he mentioned offhandedly, looking up at the sky. She grinned._

"_Nice to see ya, old man," she muttered, flipping her hair over her shoulder._

_Now brown eyes bulged and stared before he hid a grin behind smoke and cigarettes. "Wish I could say the same, brat. You look different."_

"_You should watch where you're going!" she said angrily in her fake voice to Cid._

"_Sorry, ma'am." The deep drawl replied, and Cid stuck some fallen items into her bag _

"_Could say the same for you," Yuffie replied. "Have you seen anyone else?"_

"_Don't forget this, ma'am," he replied in that deep rumble, handing her a bag that had fallen. "Nah…'cept you. Think I mighta saw Valentine, but he didn't do anything like this. Saw a glimpse of him through a crowd, wouldn't have even recognized him if he hadn't been standing like he was and with that…look."_

"_The piercing glare?"_

"_That's the one."_

"_You better be more careful yourself, old man," she muttered, "I recognized you just from the way you lit up your cancer stick."_

"_Wish I coulda said I recognized you brat. Weird, that we may be passing one another in the streets and not even notice it."_

"_I saw Reeve and the Turks. They were a family. But just you and them." Yuffie whispered. "Thank you," She said in a normal tone, her fake voice._

"_Careful, ma'am, its slippery out."_

"_Avalanche weather," she echoed both his words and her own – and from across the crowd, out of the corner of her eye she saw a tall man turn his head ever so slightly._

"_Yea." The deep rumble of Cid's voice replied, "We can just hope it will be all over soon."_

"_Feel bad for those flying," she said as she brushed snow off herself, "High Wind?"_

"_Not anymore," Cid replied with an undertone of sadness, understanding she was asking about the airship. "Take care of yourself, brat," he whispered as he stuck a cigarette in his mouth._

"_You too old man."_

_With that they strode in opposite directions as if they had never known each other; as though they really were only strangers on a street. Neither showed any sign that they remembered the encounter at all, much less knew the other person. But neither person had a clue that a pair of black eyes (you see, not many contact colors can cover red) watched them part. And the man with the messy blonde hair, black eyes and stubble turned on his heel and walked away._

_But the effect was sadly reduced without his cape._

Her stomach had twisted and turned after the meeting, worried that – like with the Reeve and Turks – Cid would be caught or worse, _she_ would be. Neither her nor Cid was the next captured, however. No, the next captured was Tifa Lockhart. But she hadn't gone down without a fight. In fact, it had been more than just a fight.

She'd taken a whole task force and the second-in-command of the SP down with her.

She'd been found in Kalm, posing temporarily as the receptionist in a doctor's office. She was discovered, however, and quickly set to beating down the soldiers had come for her. She'd hopped out through the window, and had run before encountering more soldiers. So she dropped a hand bomb and went through the front lines, knocking out soldiers as she tried to make a break in the circle so she could escape. As soon as she'd escaped the circle, however, helicopters had come to pin a searchlight on her. Then she'd stood face to face with the second-in-command of the SP. This man was rumored for breaking necks faster than you could blink, but Tifa had dealt him an ironic death, snapping his neck. Never the less, she'd been caught.

Four down, Four to go.

The world buzzed.

Next, as Yuffie sadly had predicted, was Cid. She'd figured that it was more likely for Cid, Barret, Cloud and Vincent to skip through a field of flowers while singing happy songs than for Vincent to be found. Moreover, Cloud was the leader of them all and had much experience on how to lay low, not to mention even the SP feared to find the famous and notorious leader of AVALANCHE. As for Yuffie…well, she was a ninja. And her getting caught was well, very unlikely. She considered herself to be on even odds with Vincent.

And she could assure you that Cid, Barret and Vincent weren't planning on skipping through flowers anytime soon. She grimaced – especially since two of the three aforementioned had been captured.

Cid had taken most of the SP down in his attempt at escaping 'justice,' albeit, not the leader.

Five down. Three to go.

The world was tight with tension. Most bets were on Yuffie, mainly because they were hearing less of her being a ninja and more of her being a Princess – it was a press device to raise confidence. Of course, they thought Cloud was invincible and Vincent far too ominous to place bets on, so Yuffie was the default.

They were wrong.

There was a long break, and while the break between other captures had been long, none as long as this. No leads, no anything. It was during this time that Yuffie took the riskiest move possible, and thus, ensured her safety. Yuffie didn't just enter Midgar under all the guards noses – no, no. And she didn't just get a job.

She got a job in Auhncore.

It was true. Using her ultimate ninja skills she'd managed to become a receptionist under the same disguise she'd used when meeting Cid, her name Sheila Bits. She set up false records and hacked into the city system. She'd carefully closed any loopholes and as far as anyone knew, Sheila had walked this Planet all along. She had legitimate (Seemingly) records, with no discrepancies, no questions. Sheila Bits really did exist. Except for the fact that she didn't.

Yuffie's riskiest move could seem dumb. But it was this move that ended up saving Cloud – well, at least for a short while.

Sheila climbed the corporate ladder until she was secretary for the SP – exactly where she wanted to be. It helped that the previous secretary for the SP had contracted a sudden illness, and that the first option for the job – an incredibly dumb, yet efficient, blonde - was found out to be harboring information on AVALANCHE. Well, the first option for the job _seemed_ to be harboring information on AVALANCHE

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk. Yuffie was such an amazing ninja.

So Sheila aka Yuffie was in the perfect spot, handling all transactions and notes. She'd copy down the wrong notes, sending someone in the opposite direction. One small word, or even a name, would send them looking for someone else in a place that person wasn't; this was what Yuffie did whenever they thought they had a likely lead on Vincent or Cloud – she wrote that Yuffie was there. Sheila was confident she was right, and the SP loved her. Her methods meant that the entire time the SP was searching for a short female the male fugitives were allowed to pass unnoticed.

Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.

Then, something happened that Sheila couldn't stop, without being found out. Cloud was found, and Cloud was arrested, and marched through the streets in shame. By the time he'd reached the building, he was dirty, scratched and covered in tomato juice, eggshells and other remnants of whatever relatively small and/or not-too-hard-or-crippling (only because Auhncore stopped them) objects the people could find to throw. Cloud was dejected, beaten, and she could have made a train for a wedding dress with the size of the bags under his eyes. He turned his eyes wearily as he passed her (they were standing in the main hall).

And his eyes grew wider.

No. He could not possible recognize her. Impossible. Her face was a different shape, shade, hair dyed and eyes different. But his stare was unmistakable. Then she realized she was standing as she so often did – hands on hips, weight on one hip. Damn. She thought she'd beaten these things out of her, but then again, it was her 'watch and listen to Spike' pose. She stood up straight, feet together and prim as she clutched books to her chest. He seemed defeated and it was obvious he thought he was trying to see members everywhere.

But then, there it was. One last pleading glance.

She couldn't just stand there.

_FLASH!_

_BOOM._

_It had been dropped so quickly you couldn't tell who did it, and everyone in the area was blinded. People staggered about and she dropped another, grabbing Cloud roughly by the bicep and using her amazing ninja agility to sprint out of the room, Cloud running just behind her, harder with handcuffed hands and feet. They'd catch up. Oh my gawd, oh my gawd, oh my gawdddddddd._

_They were doomed. She was stupid._

_What to do, what to do – ahah! One of those things the burly janitors used to move heavy things, wheeled with handles and long flat boards that served as the platform, and that was it. "Hey!" she cried, fake voice still, and he jumped on. He looked back at her, confused – though there was a flicker. Maybe he hadn't recognized her. Well, he might now._

_There it was! The look again. Well, maybe he didn't recognize her. But that didn't matter now._

_She dropped another, and the roar tore through the halls as Yuffie bowled people over as she slammed through halls and corridors, people jumping and screaming and staring, and Yuffie was dropping flash-boom grenades in her wake as though she was a flower girl littering the wedding aisle with petals. The front doors were ever so close, so close…_

_They were there. Cloud tucked his head in as she charged through the front doors, glass shattering as the doors blew open and they were running through the streets, and sharply turning into alleys. Finallyl they came to what was still the disaster zone; the area that hadn't been cleared, not even pathways. They were so helplessly twisted in this part of town that they abandoned the cart and set it ablaze with a quick Fire 3 spell, quickly reducing it to cinders. A Bolt spell turned the metal handles and wheels into a mass of twisted metal, not at all uncommon in this part of town._

_So they ducked under rubbage and beams and ducking through destruction while Cloud tripped over his chains. When they were so deep in the mess that finding them would be near impossible (especially since Yuffie had regularly setting water spells over their path, drying them with a Fire One spell. This allowed for their scent to be wiped away completely with any footprints. Finally, they found a broken down house surrounded by metal and rubble, and they went inside. Inside, Cloud shook his head._

"_You have guts," he said wearily. "You don't even know me."_

_Yuffie did a small smile most unlike her. "I wouldn't say that."_

"_Oh right," he said bitterly, voice biting, "you've seen me in the news. Which explains even less of why you did this." He looked at her sidelong, and shook his head, sitting down on an overturned crate, fingers in hair. When he finally looked up, he shook his head. "You remind me of someone. Which brings me to…well…Who _are_ you?"_

_Yuffie grinned broadly, a grin so like her own (though the implants she had in her cheeks that changed face shape made it slightly different) and tied up her hair which brushed her shoulders. Then she reached into her mouth and plucked out the implants, moving her mouth around a little to adjust to their absence. Contacts were taken out, and for the final touch, Yuffie reached into her shirt, where something was tucked into her bra. With a wicked grin so Yuffieish, she tied her headband around her forehead. "Guess now, Spike."_

_He was gaping at her, mouth hanging open as though he was a gorilla. Her cheeky grin remained, red hair tied back as she tugged off her fashionable but work-friendly skirt, revealing comfortable cotton short-shorts underneath. She pushed her ¾ sleeves of her white, fashionable button down past her elbows and unbuttoned a couple buttons for breathing room. Her necklace was whipped off, but the heels had to stay until she could find better footwear – barefoot was bad in this part of town. "Happy to see me?" she grinned._

"_Yuf...Y…Yuffie…"_

"_I'll take that as a 'Oh Yes Yuffie, Thank GOD you saved my spikey ass back there, I bow to your amazingness and I am forever your indentured servant. Please, let me rub your feet, which are no doubt aching in those Jimmy Choos that look amazingly fabulous on you.'"_

_He gaped. "…In Auhncore…" _

"_Well, after what they've been doing, I figured that the best way to hide from the enemy was to get under their nose and wave 'HERE I AM.' Of course, I was Sheila."_

_He stared at her some more. "…Vincent…?"_

_Her face fell. "Haven't heard of him. Saw Reeve and the Turks about a week before they were captured. Saw Cid up at Icicle Inn. You're the third AVALANCHE-er to be attracted by my amazing AVALANCHE-seeking radar. Boo-ya. But no Vincent. He's impervious to my amazingly efficient and awesome radar. Maybe it doesn't detect vampire-members."_

_Cloud had his head in his hands. "I thought I was done," he croaked, but then looked up, a wry and bitter smile curling onto his lips. He was silent for a moment, and a moment stretched into a decade._

"_And then there were three," he finally said._

_Yuffie nodded solemnly. "And then there were three," she repeated. "Here Cloud, I have some hairdye in this nifty little purse of mine." For indeed, her purse had stayed with her. She inspected him and pulled out a neon green. "With those spikes, Spike, you can be a punk."_

_So she doused his hair with the (oddly enough) still working sink, explaining cheerfully it was temporary dye, and doing the proper procedure. As his hair dye was setting, she shook down her hair and proceeded to do the same, dying hers a blonde. When their hair was done, Cloud's blue orbs were covered with brown, although they still glowed. Not good, really, though it was subdued. Yuffie's hazel eyes were replaced with a honey color, thanking that her eyes adjusted to all colors fairly easily. _

_With Cloud's already ripped attire from his capture, they just had to break off his chains (true, they couldn't get the braces of the ankles and feet, but they added to the punkish-ness. Besides, how would they expect all this so quickly?), and besides, his pants could be drawn over the ankles and a wristband covered one wrist. She put a few choice rips in the knees of his pants and took the chain they had taken off and put part around his bicep, another as a choker on his neck. When she was done she made him slump and take a rebellious look that transformed him into a punk._

_Yuffie was in her heels, a black headband pushing back her hair (except her bangs, which were fashionably arranged) and had the haughty look of the upper class._

_They fought through the rubble to the backstreets of Midgar together._

_They strode out of the alley together._

_They hit the street, and walked in separate directions._

_Alone._

Four months later, he gave himself up. Actually, the story was there was an incredibly heroic fight, in which they finally overcame the downtrodden hero and dragged him in. But Yuffie knew better – he wouldn't have been caught just four months after his near doom. He had the same look as Barret – not shame at being caught, but bitter resignation. As if he'd had no choice.

And then there were two.

Three months later, here they were, the AVALANCHE member who'd run into 3/7th of the clan, and one of the two who'd never even been spotted. The world raged and roared, quivering in their booties as Auhncore fed them lies about how the demon and the princess would prey upon unsuspecting travelers. The children of Auhncore workers were fed horror stories of how if they were bad, they'd wake up to glowing red eyes in the dark, and then the Valentine Monster would get you; of how if you went places you weren't supposed to go, or stayed outside after dark, the Renegade Princess would catch you. These children fed the stories to others, and she'd seen children in the streets after dark jumping at every footstep. She saw their eyes dark around, looking around nervously for the orange sneakers which were said to be the last thing you would see as you were pushed to the ground. The children. How cruel to them.

Vincent. How cruel to him.

Yuffie. How incredibly, unbelievably, dastardly cruel to her.

Sometimes, she walked really loudly at night, just to scare the children. Hey, just the other day one had tried to pickpocket her (not knowing with whom they dealt), but had ended up scampering away even poorer than before. Ha. Try to steal from Yuffie Kisaragi and you'd walk away in your underwear and sneakers, and never notice – and only those two items when she was feeling generous.

The children. What about AVALANCHE? The children were innocent, and didn't deserve what they got.

AVALANCHE saved the world. And if the children didn't deserve what they got, then AVALANCHE didn't deserve it tenfold. Sickening.

Speaking of sickening, she couldn't believe where her feet were taking her. This nighttime hour made even the streetlights begin the flicker, as though they didn't believe there was any life to provide light for. Yuffie walked unabashedly beneath the lights, engulfed in darkness then bathed in the orangey, artificial lights that shone ten feet up. Almost as phony as her disguise, these lights. But she disregarded this as her heels clicked on the sidewalk, neither speeding nor slowing as she passed the dark alley; but what did she have to fear? It was just as well anyway, for no shadowy hands emerged and grabbed her.

What was the point, when she was walking straight into them?

Finally she came to the fork in the large street, where it split off into smaller sections. The building at the fork formed an almost triangular shape, the point near the fork before splitting off. She went to the right of this building, which used to be a famous restaurant and now was sad and abandoned, windows dusty and dirty, no longer shining.

Halfway down the base of this building was a door. Yuffie knocked.

Nothing.

She knocked louder, irritably, and again was greeted with nothing. So she pounded on the steel door, never stopping as her fist grew red and numb from slapping the cold steel, never stopping until she heard shouted curses from inside and something hit the door – or stumbled into it. Yuffie stopped knocking as she almost hit someone's head when the steel door swung open forcefully.

"Oh _hell_ no," the man muttered and slammed the door in her face.

She blinked rapidly, and began pounding again. He opened it and glared. "Listen, I don't remember meeting you, who you are and whatever I did to you, sorry babe."

"Oh shut up, Turkey," Yuffie said, exasperatedly.

He stared. "Hell no. Do you even _know_ what time it is?"

"Do you think I'd just run around in daylight, when you're probably not even home? It was lucky enough finding you now!" Yuffie hissed.

"See ya." He made to slam the door.

She slammed against it, pushing it open and forcing her way inside. Shutting the door behind her, she secured the numerous locks on the door before turning to press her back to the cold door. She glared. Looking around, she reached up and peeled the wig off her head, allowing her hair to fall down and brush her shoulders. He stared. "You sleep on the couch," he ordered, and slumped away sleepily. She made a noise of protest. "Shut up or get out," he snapped and went into his room before climbing back into his bed. Yuffie shook her head, disgusted with herself.

After all, you knew you'd sunk low in the world when you sought help from a Turk.

* * *

**A/N:** And here's the second chapter of Hate Your Heroes. Again, I was supposed to get ahead and get a detailed story plan out, but I keep just _writing._ I have some scenes in my head, and a sketchy plot plan. But I wanted to post it, so I did.

The quotes at the top are, as so far, all part of one large quote. Anyone know what it's from/who says it or who authors it/what the whole quote is?

Still undecided as to pairings. So far, the reviews say 'Yuffentine.' It will probably be a triangle, but I have no clue as to the ending of said triangle. Hmm. Anyway, now's time for thanks to the reviewers.

I forgot to thank my prologue reviewers so they will go in order I received them, the first two being prologue reviewers.

AstraeltheDestroyer: Thank you. :) (gee, aren't you special? You got the smiley face!)

laila: I hope it won't disappoint! Thanks for reviewing.

sahara'sfury: I'm a Yuffentine fan as well, and so far most of the things I wrote have been Yuffentines...I just love them together. Most of my stories are Yuffie-centric, as she is my favorite character. Mwhaha.

AstraeltheDestroyer: That's two tallies for Yuffentine! Hope this update is soon enough. :)

MystiKoorime: Wow, thank you! Glad you liked it - it's likely going to be one of those longggg fics.

I Cyn I: Thank you! Yuffie's probably going to be a little more like herself later in the fic, as time goes on, but as she is older and with the events, I did want her to lose some of her 'old self.' I actually hadn't been sure what to do with Vincent, whether to make it dramatic or very low-key. I had a little brain burst and it probably is going to be low-key, not very dramatic but very...eh...surprising? Out of character? Not sure how to word it.

I'm a shameless Yuffentine fan as well. And that makes three votes for Yuffentine. ;)

Well, everybody, that's it for review responses. Hope this chapter lives up to any expectations.


	4. Always

**Chapter Three**

Always

_I am not washed and beautiful, in control of a shining world in which everything fits_

"Get up," said a gruff voice located somewhere above him.

Mako eyes blinked open blearily and a small noise was made before the guard roughly grabbed the sleeping prisoner by the bicep and yanked him up. The prisoner stumbled to his feet, spiky hair mussed and face marred by bruises. One discoloration stretched across his left temple, and three small ones danced across his right cheekbone. His eyes were dead and weary and only stared lifelessly at the gruff guard while shackles were clamped on his hands and feet.

"Walk!" the guard barked and pushed Cloud Strife forward, making the mercenary stumble and nearly fall to the ground. Another guard caught the blonde man, and the guard laughed cruelly as he tied a blindfold around Cloud's mako eyes and jammed a shotgun into his back. "Let's go, scum."

So Cloud was marched through halls he couldn't see at the moment, but he knew were a colorless white from previous experience. The doors of the cells were the same color, enhancing the very real feeling of being trapped. They came to an elevator, Cloud realized as he heard the tell-tale 'ding,' and the orange-jumpsuit clad Cloud was shoved inside. The guards bullied him into a corner, laughing cruelly as they made him reach out and try to touch the button from his distance and blinded state. They then shoved him into the padded wall. After yanking him back, the guards finally stood stoically on either side of him as the cheesy elevator music played. When they exited at their destination, they shoved Cloud forward and marched him through a hallway.

_This is it,_ he thought, grimacing. They were finally doing it; forcing him to confess for deeds he didn't commit or face execution.

But, after a good deal of walking, when he was shoved through a cell door, they didn't accompany him. "Welcome to your temporary lodgings, scum," one guard said with disgust as he unlocked his hand and ankle cuffs. Then the guard yanked the cuffs off as Cloud rubbed chafed wrists.

"You'll have some company."

The guards laughed and walked off with their guns over their shoulders. Cloud sat on the bed and wearily untied his blindfold. The cell doors were more like a normal prison now; they stretched across the room and were barred. The room was the same scientific, starched white. His elbows dug into his knees as he rested his head in fingertips, rubbing his temples.

"'Bout time they brought you, Spike," a familiar voice came.

Cloud's head jerked up and he stared in disbelief at the cell directly across from his. In the darkened cell, a man sat on a bed, leaning against the wall. His one foot was propped on the bed, the other stretching out in his classic pose. The only thing missing was the cigarette.

"Cid," he breathed in disbelief.

"The one and only."

"What're you…where…why…?" Cloud asked, staring in confusion.

"They want us to talk to each other," Cid answered, holding up a plastic spoon to his mouth and chewing on the end.

"…why?"

Cid shot him an irritated look. "C'mon, why do you think? They think we'll talk about our evil-doings and where ever the hell the vampire and brat are."

"…But we didn't do anything," Cloud said dumbly.

"And we have no &#$#ing clue where the brat and vampire are either. Which makes this a moot point." Cid turned his head up and looked out in the hall. "Yea, you heard me," he shouted irritably at something.

"…Cid?" Cloud asked with a tone that suggested fear for his friend's sanity.

"Cameras," Cid explained.

"What's with the spoon?" Cloud asked.

Cid grunted. "The &$#%ers stole my #%$&ing cigarettes. $#%ing bastard ass &#%$-tard bitch-shitting mama's boys." He was nearly growling now. "So I smuggled this spoon, the only $%#&ing thing to put in my mouth other than my own &#$%ing thumb."

There was a low rumble heard, and Cloud dragged himself to his feet and walked to his cell door. Next to Cid's cell (Cloud's right, Cid's left) was a familiar form of a very large man. "Barret," he said breathlessly.

Barret jumped. "Spike!" he said in surprise. "Well shit…Tifa!" he shouted loudly. "Teef!" he said louder.

There was a thump from the cell to his right, across from Barret. Cloud jumped and looked at his right wall, and saw a small barred window. Walking over, he peered inside.

A mass of orange fabric and black-brown hair was sprawled just beside the bed, and the figure moved. "Barret?" it – she – asked, and moved herself into a sitting position. "What was that for?"

"…Spike's here."

Tifa jumped up almost faster than Cloud could see. In a blur of dark hair and an orange jumpsuit, Tifa was standing by the window with her hands clutching the bars. "Cloud!" she cried, his mako blue eyes meeting worried chocolate ones. She brushed hair out of her face, and even with a bruise stretching across her neck and another marring her eye, she was as beautiful as ever. Unconsciously, he reached out and brushed her eye. She jumped slightly and shivered. "Cloud…" she said softly.

"Who did that to you?" he demanded.

"Same people who did _that_ to you, Cloud." Tifa nodded at his jaw, which he touched. "Who else?"

They were quiet and in the silence her eyes were tearing up, making him shift. "Oh Cloud I thought…that they might have…"

Cloud shook his head. "No. Thought they were going to this time."

Tifa peered around Cloud, and the mercenary winced as Tifa suddenly shouted, "Reeve!" Her chocolate eyes grew slightly annoyed, and Cloud stuffed his fingers into his ears. "REEVE!"

There was a groaning from the left of Cloud's cell, and he turned his head to see a familiar, bleary eyed face coming to the window on the other side of his cell. Reeve rubbed his eyes and ran fingers through his hair. "What is it, Tifa?"

"Cloud!" she shouted.

Reeve opened his eyes slightly before they fluttered and snapped open. He finally seemed to process the figure standing between the two windows, and his hands also clutched the bars. "Cloud," he said calmly, even as shaken as he looked. "…shame we couldn't meet under different circumstances."

There it was, that spark of humor and mischief in Reeve's eye that showed even prison, torture and beatings couldn't sap Reeve of his personality. Cloud nodded at the man and chuckled slightly, walking over and sitting on his bed, where he had an even view of everyone. Well, almost everyone…

Reeve had moved from his window, and was rattling at his bars a bit. "Nanaki," he said evenly, addressing the cell across from him. "Nan-"

"Do not worry, I am already awake," the intelligent beast said, striding over to the corner of his cell and entering Cloud's view. "Welcome," the experiment said dully.

Cloud shook his head. "Just us six then?" he said evenly. "Not…?"

Nanaki shook his head solemnly. "No, not yet. You would have heard the guards bragging to you about it."

Cloud nodded. "How long have you all been…here?"

Barret spoke up. "I was here first. The next day they brought in Red. When we didn't talk to each other about anything 'portant for 'bout 5 days, they brought Teef here in. 'Gain, we didn't talk 'bout anythin' that would be importan' for Auhncore, so 3 days after that Reeve came. They left us for 'bout a week, maybe little longer before they brought Cid. Then it was us five for 3 days now. Now you're here."

Fingers ran through silky blonde hair, and Cloud stared at the ceiling. "I thought they were bringing me to my execution."

Cid nodded solemnly. "We all did. They keep threatening to kill us, just can't seem to do it."

"Not 'til we spill what they think we know bout Brat and Vamp," Barret growled.

"It is foolish of course." Nanaki shook his mane-covered head. "To try and force us to admit to a lie, or else be executed for it."

Cloud was quiet. "_Do_ we know anything about either of them?"

In unison, five heads shook. "We already decided that it can't help them much to know I ran into her once. So did Reeve."

"But we're not saying anything more." Reeve put in.

"They're listening," Tifa said quietly, so lowly that even Cloud had to strain his ears to hear her. "They're always listening."

"And they're watching," Reeve said with a broken whisper, as quiet as Tifa. "They're always watching."

Then five voices rang, broken and defeated, through the chamber.

"Always."

This had to be illegal.

He stared bleary eyed at the clock, which said it was a dreadful ten o'clock in the morning. "You've _got_ to be kidding me," he groaned. There was no light to sear painfully in his eyes, since he'd blacked out the window for occasions like these. He gave a gurgling groan and swung his legs over the side of his bed, hiding his face in his hands. Oh, the _headache_.

He wobbly stood and staggered to his bathroom, where he promptly dropped to his knees and puked into the toilet. He groaned, and one hand slapped up onto the countertop. It felt around blindly, mercilessly knocking toothbrushes and bottles in its way, until it closed upon the familiar shape of the aspirin bottle. Hungrily he popped the top off.

To find half a pill left.

Oh _hell no_.

He dry swallowed the half of a pill and ran hot water in the bathtub, wetting a towel with hot water, wringing it out slightly and slapping it around his neck. After a hurl and a half later, he lurched to his feet and managed to find the fallen toothbrush to brush the taste of vomit from his mouth. Taking a good five minutes, he gurgled mouthwash and spat it out.

He looked like hell ate him, chewed him up and than spat him back out again, he thought, surfacing in front of the mirror. Not that he gave a rat's ass.

Using the doorframe for support he managed to walk in some semblance of a straight line to the kitchen, where he dug in the cabinets for aspirin to no avail. He tore through the cabinet that's shelves were laden with pills, throwing them behind him desperately. Nope. No luck. He turned around to find the kitchen looking like there had been an explosion in a doctor's office. With, er, bomb-proof pill bottles.

Whatever.

Feeling slightly better at the prospect of no loud noises or sunlight, he pulled out the Lucky Charms and milk and poured himself a bowl of cereal. His traditional hangover breakfast, when he wasn't too busy puking. They were magically delicious, after all.

Dragging himself over to the couch, he faced the television and sat down.

It took him a few seconds before he realized something was wrong.

Firstly, the couch was not soft and squishy. It was hard, and bony, fleshy, and oddly shaped.

Secondly, there was someone else on his couch.

He jumped up.

"The fuck?!"

She woke up when he tried to sit on her.

"Ah-Ahhh!" she shrieked.

"Holy shit!" he shouted, and jumped up. "The fuck?!" he yelped. The cereal bowl flew into the air to a symphony of screams and curses.

Now they were standing as they stared at each other and screamed. Yuffie stopped when suddenly the memory of coming to this place entered her sleep-addled mind. But Reno cursed again at the Lucky Charms that soaked the floor and lay sprawled on the carpet. "Holy fuck!" he said, staring between her and his poor bowl of cereal. "Who the fuck are you?" then his eyes widened in some semblance of understanding. "Babe, I don't know when we met or _what_ I said to you, but _how the fuck did you get in my house_?"

"Reno!" she shouted as he continued to rant. "Reno!" she said and he stopped. "It's me." She said.

"'Me?' Who the hell is _me?"_

She rolled her eyes and looked around. Then again, she doubted they'd be able to check for bugs at Reno's house. Besides, she could escape those bozos. He was bound to have a window somewhere. She reached up to her 'hair' and slipped fingernails under the skin cap part of the wig. His eyes widened.

"Eh?"

It must look quite odd, putting her fingernails into her head. Slowly, she pulled back the wig and his eyes grew comically wide. He drew back as she peeled off the hair and shook out her straight, layered black hair. She smiled, touching the ends of her hair where they ended halfway down her neck.

Realization and remembrance seemed to dawn on him. "H-Hey! If it ain't the ninja brat."

She grinned widely. "The one and only." Then she processed what he had said. "Hey!"

Reno shook his head and plopped onto the couch, ignoring the cereal and milk that splattered the carpet. Both his hands went behind his head in a relaxed position. "Yo, you realize you could get me into deep shit coming here, don't you?"

Yuffie laughed. "Yup. But I think you can handle yourself Turkey. They're scared of you."

"Maybe."

"So 'yo,' I need your help."

He raised his eyebrows and heaved himself up. "Well, well, well," he started to walk in a circle around her. "The Great Ninja Yuffie, hero of the Planet needs the help of _my_ lil' ol' 'Turkey' butt."

She rolled her eyes.

"Makes you think how much things change," he said, and then added as an afterthought, "yo."

He'd tacked that on to bug her. "Listen," she sighed. "Cloud, Tifa, Reeve, Barret, Cid, Nanaki are all in jail.

"So that leaves you and the vampire."

Yuffie nodded. "Ex-actly."

"Hmph. Cloud had just gotten away and then the Chocobo Head went and got captured again."

"I know. I went through _all_ that trouble and he went and got caught again!"

Reno leaned against the wall, and she turned to face him, hands on hips. "_You_ went through all that trouble?"

Yuffie nodded. "Yupp," she grinned lazily. "You heard about the search for Sheila Bits?"

Reno nodded. Then his eyes widened. "Oh, oh, _oh!"_

She gave a cheeky grin. "Yup. That was me. Got his ass outta there, disguised him and we went out again."

Reno shook his head. "They thought that he'd kidnapped Sheila, since she was secretary for the SP." Then he looked at her curiously. "Then they thought she might be a spy…but they found her corpse a month later."

Yuffie grinned. "Well, they found _a _corpse. _A_ corpse with the same blood type, and hair color, and eye color, and skin tone, and height and weight…"

"So you killed someone jus' for that?"

"Found a body." Then she frowned. "Like you're one to talk."

He held up his hands. "Yo, brat, wasn't accusing."

"Humph." She crossed her arms.

"So. My help."

"Yea. Anyway, I wanna find Vin. Or something that lets me know he's still alive."

Reno eyed her. "Why?"

"Cause we're the only two left."

"So wouldn't it make more sense to stay _apart_."

She fluttered a hand in front of her face. "Come on. Vin won't get caught. Neither will I. I just wanna know he's alive. Anyway, we've gotta spring the rest from jail."

"Do you now?"

"Yup." Yuffie said. "I'm not gonna let them get executed. Even though _you guys_ tried to do that to Teef and Barret."

"Hey, all in the past sweetcheeks."

"Yea, yea. Anyway, are you gonna help me or not?"

Reno leaned forward off the wall. Sauntering forward, he stopped right in front of her and took one more step, leaning forward so he was right in her face. She leaned back. "Ehh…"

"What's in it," he said lightly as his eyes flicked up to meet hers, and his lips were dangerously close, "for me?"

Yuffie grimaced. "Uh…well, you see-"

Reno snorted. "Lemme guess, yo. Glory. Honor. Heroism." Reno shook his head. "Sorry babe, not interested." He turned on his heel and began to walk back to his bedroom.

"H-H-Hey! Wait!"

Reno turned.

"That wasn't what I was going to say. I can pay you. We earned a whole bunch on our saving the world thing, and two more years around the globe sure makes cash burn a hole in your pocket."

Reno considered, heading into the kitchen. "I'll do it for 5,000."

Yuffie trotted after him and looked shocked, but grinned.

"A day," He finished.

Yuffie's face fell. "That's 35,000 a week!"

He'd poured himself more cereal, and he leaned against the wall. The picture would have been perfect and cool if he'd taken a puff on his cigarette, rather than take a bite of Lucky Charms. "Yup."

"No way, Jose!"

"5,000."

"1,000!"

"4,999."

"2,000!"

"4,998."

"Reno!"

"Fine. 4,993."

Angered, Yuffie's face turned a mottled purple. "Forget it," she spat, and chucked something at his feet. "Can't count on a Turk to help you out!"

Turning on her heel, she stalked out, looking odd in pink and without her bandanna. Reno watched her go, only his eyes moving when he looked down at his feet. Leaning down, he picked it up. It was some object balled up in a bright yellow – clean – sock. Peeling back the sock, he took out the item. He stared at it in disbelief. Then he heard the door open.

"I'll do it," he said suddenly.

Yuffie eased back in, a huge grin on her face. "I thought so," she said. "Say Reno…"

"Yea?" he said, looking at the item he held in his hand.

"Where's Rude?"

* * *

**A/N:** Alright. So this is a short chapter. Mainly because I didn't want to beseige you with a fifteen page chapter. So, instead, I'm uploading two chapters at the same time. Because I wouldn't really care about reading that much, but I'm making it easier for you poor readers.

Anyway, this chapter is much lighter than the previous two. Hope it's alright anyway. Hm.

About Cid. Why does he curse in symbols? Well, the 'f-word' anyway? Well, because he's Cid. That's just what he does. Even though Reno gets to say it, and Cid will eventually be saying it for emphasis. It just seems weird to insert the actual words when you know...it's Cid. So that's my odd and twisted logic. Meh.

The second half of this chapter (because really, this is a bit of a filler, except for the whole hey-there-AVALANCHE-in-jail-what's-hanging? part) will be uploaded soon. As in, today soon. As in, after I eat some food soon. Then again, with how much I eat...

On a side note, 'Always' is a weird word. Just say it. Always. Always. Always. I'm stopping now. Promise. Always.

Thank you to all my reviewers, (I'm cutting reviewer response since I can just PM you), AstraeltheDestroyer, I Cyn I, In Search of Paradise, Chibi Ninjaa , MadMaz87, sahara'sfury, your reviews brighten up my day like _wow._ :)


	5. Trust in the Turks

**Chapter Four**

Trust in the Turks

_But instead am wandering awed about on a splintered wreck I've come to care for_

"Here we are," Reno said with one hand resting behind his head as he pointed up. Yuffie, who had her own hair under a wig, was dressed in an overlarge T-shirt and sweatpants. She looked up and her eyes followed his pointing finger.

"Whuh_-oh_."

'Here' was a tall, upscale apartment building, the sidewalk in front covered with people in black business attire. The side building was shiny black, dark, tinted windows gleaming against the sun. The doorman was giving them looks – they did stick out like sore thumbs here. "So, ahhh, I guess we should go in then?" Yuffie said.

Reno shrugged and led the way, passing the doorman and sauntering into the lobby. There were looks directed their way, and the security man looked at them suspiciously. "Excuse me-" he started, but Reno flashed what looked like a keycard. The man nodded, satisfied, and the two went to the elevators.

"Oh," a small desk receptionist spoke up. "The elevators are stuck. There are still people in them too. You'll have to take the stairs."

"Oh _hell no_," Reno said.

"Where does Rude live?" Yuffie whispered.

Reno looked over. "Penthouse."

Yuffie stared. "You're shitting me. Alone?"

"Well. There's multiple 'penthouses.' Basically, he lives on the second floor from the top, and shares the floor with one other suite."

"Uhhhhhh," Yuffie groaned, and pushed the stairwell door open.

* * *

They were twenty-one floors up and Yuffie tripped. Again.

Reno laughed. Again.

"_Ohhhh_!" Yuffie cried angrily. "These stupid sweatpants are _giant!_ I'm this-" She held up her fingers pinched barely a millimeter apart, "-close to taking them off!"

Reno kept trotting, grinning down at her. "Go ahead,"

"Pervert! Perrrrvvverrrtt!"

"And here I was thinking you were a bit more mature."

"Can't help it when I'm around you Turkey."

Reno laughed.

"How are you doing this?" she huffed.

"I worked at _ShinRa_, remember? You don't know how often Tseng made us – well me - run up those stairs when we – well, _I_ – pissed him off." He glanced down at her, amused. "You obviously weren't there when your little buddies had to do this in ShinRa."

"Thank _gawd_."

Six floors later, they were on a landing and Yuffie suddenly launched into a sprint. "Reno," she said suddenly, and the Turk whirled around, and looked surprised at her. "Catch me if you can," she cried and jumped.

He could, and he did. He caught her by the hips, and held her up as far as his arms could stretch, and she looked surprised. "Uh, uh…" she said, looking surprised. Obviously, she had thought she was just going to bowl him over. He wouldn't be surprised if this wasn't the first time she'd tried this, probably with her little buddies. He absently wondered if any of them had ever caught her.

"Now?" he asked.

"Uh…carry me?"

He shook his head, and let her go. She yelped, but he caught her bridal style. She peered up at him. "You sure about that?" he asked.

"Um-"

"Too late." he said, and started running up the stairs. Yuffie screeched as he slid around corners as easily as though he was wearing socks on a hardwood floor, and she was bumped and nearly dumped over the edge at one point. When he finally put her down, he was huffing and she was terrified. She staggered around, and spun in a dizzy circle before she fell on her butt. Reno slumped against the wall and slid down. He finally mustered a grin. "Well," he huffed, "Kisaragi…better…" he breathed, "be careful…what…wish for…"

He huffed and looked up. "One more floor."

They didn't move.

"Yup," Yuffie said, looking up.

Neither moved.

"So we should prolly get going," Reno said.

She nodded. "…Yup."

They sat, staring up.

"Hey brat."

"Mhm?"

"You've done that before?"

"What?"

"The spastic 'catch me' thing."

"Yup."

"To?"

"Cloud. Cid. Barret. Reeve. Godo. Vincent. Ru-ooh-ooh...uh...Rufasaro." Reno stared at her. "He, um, is a bartender in Wutai."

"Riiighhtttt. Any of them catch you?"

"Yup."

"Pray tell."

"Don't want to."

"Brat."

"Turkey."

"Princess."

"Princess."

She stuck out her tongue. They lapsed into silence. Reno looked over at her. She probably hadn't acted this way in a long, long time. It almost seemed foreign to her, that spark that had - before now - always been in her eye.

Finally she lurched to her feet. "C'mon Turkey," she said, and went sprinting up the stairs. He followed, clutching the railing and pulling himself up.

"No," he wheezed, "fair."

Two floors later, they were on the second to last floor. There was a hall, and on opposite ends of opposite walls were doors. One per wall. Rude's was, of course, the further one, so he dragged himself down the hall. In front of the door he slid in the keycard and punched in a code on the keypad. The sounds of mechanical locks whirred, and Yuffie noted the sounds carefully, just as she had noted the sounds of the keypad.

The door swung open, and Reno sauntered in. "Honey, I'm hommeeeeee," he called.

Silence.

Reno seemed disturbed by that.

"But Reno," she pointed out, "it's _Rude_."

Apparently, it was some super-secret-ultra-different silence then the silence that Rude seemed to exude. Yuffie cocked her head, tuning her ears so she could try to hear the S.S.U.D. Silence. Oh yes. There it was now. So different. Yuffie rolled her eyes.

He held up a hand and drew his gun. "Rude?" he called.

He went into the main room, as if expecting to see blood and Rude's bald head rolling on the floor. He checked all the rooms, and came back, seemingly satisfied. "He's not here," Reno said simply.

"_No_," Yuffie said, feigning shock. Reno went into the kitchen and took out a good amount of food.

"Huh," Reno said, helping himself to a sandwich. Yuffie had to wonder who in their right mind would give Reno a key to an apartment with a stocked fridge. "Damn. We're late." He flapped a piece of paper in Yuffie's face.

"Hey, stop that!" she said, and snatched it away. It was ripped out of a planner.

"Elena lives by that thing," Reno said as explanation.

Yuffie looked at it. Glancing at the clock, she saw it was 11:35. In the 11 o'clock time block, it read 'Pick up Reno.' "_You_? Scheduled?"

Reno shrugged. "Elena just came back into town. Said she wanted to see me."

Yuffie shook her head. "So we just missed them."

Reno looked glum. "Yup."

They settled, and suddenly Yuffie got a strange look on her face. She ran out the apartment, and when she was gone, Reno lazed out the door. Peering down the hall, he saw that she was standing in front of the gold elevator doors that were on the opposite end from the stairs. "Reno…" she said, and turned around. "How long ago did the elevator stop?"

Reno's face twisted into this look of understanding, and he went back into the apartment and picked up the phone. He dialed the front desk number that was printed on the phone, and the lady asked. "Yo, how long ago did the elevator doors go out?"

The lady seemed startled by his lazy speech, but replied, "Half an hour ago."

Reno hung up abruptly. He went out, and relayed the results to Yuffie. She grinned, and pressed the elevator button. Of course, it didn't open. She frowned, and slipped her fingers in the crack. Planting her feet, she began to tug. Reno watched, amused as the blonde Wutain girl tried to pry open the door. He chuckled. She looked at him irritably. "Some help, maybe?"

He walked back inside.

"Hey!" she shouted. "Hey you! Royal Pain In The Ass! Get back out here you lazy, drunk bum!"

Reno emerged, and he was holding a crowbar. Her mouth made a small 'o' on her face, and she stood aside and let him slip the crowbar in and pry it apart. Finally the doors took hold and slid open. "Hold the doors." She said, and ran into the apartment. Shrugging, he leaned against the door and lit a cigarette. The cigarette was wearing down and she came back, and Reno choked on his cigarette. She'd _mutilated_ his sweatpants, cutting them off so they were short-shorts, and she'd apparently found Elena's clothes, for she wore a white and yellow striped spaghetti-strap tank top. "Elena owns that?" he asked.

"Apparently." She shrugged on a light grey hoodie. "Less-go."

She went over and they peered down the shaft. Reno glanced over at her, and for about the fiftieth time today, his brain tried to register who he was standing with. The blonde hair was throwing him off. Shaking his head, he turned his eyes back to the pit. They looked down. "It's a long drop."

"Yup."

They looked at each other, eyes meeting. "Come one, slowpoke!" she said, and with that, jumped down the shaft.

Reno grinned. Smothering his cigarette on the nice, fancy floors, he jumped. Steel sides whirred by and he felt someone grab his pants leg, and he looked down to see Yuffie, who flashed him a grin and then let go, landing in a crouch on the elevator while Reno rolled to break the fall. They heard noises from inside, some yelps, and a harsh order.

Yuffie felt around until she lifted a tile, and she jumped in. When she landed, Reno poked his head in, to find himself looking down the barrels of two familiar guns. He looked from the terrified occupants of the elevator to the ones holding the guns at his face.

"Rude, Elena, didn't think _I'd_ have to come and get _your _asses."

* * *

Rude was going to explode. Elena was about to throw a hissyfit, her mouth moving eighty miles a minute. The other passengers didn't look too happy either, so Rude lifted his hand and placed it over her mouth. Blue eyes widened and turned to him, and he just raised his eyebrows at her. She fell silent.

The passengers applauded. Elena looked hurt, so a business man gave her a playful punch on the arm, and a kind woman patted her on the arm. She laughed. Suddenly, there was a sound from above. The people had started talking again, and Elena held up a hand. "Shhh!" she ordered.

A few people chuckled at the irony.

"Serious! Do you hear that?"

Everyone fell silent and they heard a yell, and something poked at Elena's mind. Had she…? No. Nahh.

Abruptly something landed with a thump, and a few people stood up and yelped. Elena's hand went to her gun, and she found Rude's hand had done the same. "Stand back," she ordered sharply, and a few people looked startled. "Stand back! We're trained professionals."

"Oh really?" a cynical, whiny man said. "What are your qualifications?" He eyed their guns uncomfortably.

Elena glared at him. "None of your business."

The man stood in front of Elena, and she glanced nervously at the ceiling, where another thing landed, and there was a sound as though they moved. The man just glared, and crossed his arms firmly over his chest, ridiculously puffed up. "Tell me your qualifications." He demanded.

Elena's eyes flashed. "We both worked in the ShinRa Investigation Division of the General Affairs Department, happy?"

People drank this in, and it took them a moment to realize what that was. The cynical man looked horrified and backed up slowly, until his back hit the opposite end of the elevator. The man who'd playfully punched Elena looked disgusted and wiped his fist on his suit. The woman who had patted Elena had her mouth wide in horror as they realized they were sharing a department with two of ShinRa's finest, the Turks.

A mother clutched her baby to her chest.

A man huddled in the corner.

"We're not going to hurt you!" Elena cried, whirling around – and unthinkingly, her outstretched gun went with her.

People cringed away and she realized she was out of practice. People like her couldn't just be ruthless Turks with their own personality, like Reno and Rude. She had a mask, and now she put on her Turk face. She turned a cold eye upon the people, then joined Rude in pointing her gun at the ceiling.

A tile lifted, and a lithe figure somersaulted down and landed in a crouch, straightening. Rude's gun moved to her while Elena's stayed to the ceiling. She grinned, a grin Elena knew – even if she did remember it from hanging off a cliff…even if she did remember it upside-down. Rude looked at her, and swung his gun back to the ceiling in a way that was the Rude version of 'Oh brother' or an eye roll. But as Elena was about to open her mouth, Rude nudged her and she understood. They were the only ones who recognized her, and the rest looked terrified by some blonde gymnast. Then, a red head poked down, upside down and wearing a tell-tale smirk.

"Rude, Elena, didn't think _I'd_ have to come and get _your _asses."

People looked shocked at this. Yuffie knelt and cupped her hands over her knee, and Elena took the signal and stepped into it. Elena yelped as Yuffie lifted Elena up, and Reno grabbed the blonde Turk. For kicks, he swung her around a bit.

She was wearing a skirt.

"_Reno!"_"

Reno smirked and lifted her.

Yuffie looked at Rude. "Eh…"

"Don't worry." He said, and knelt, cupping his hands. She grinned and stepped up, pushing herself off the ground and leaping up to grab the side of the elevator. She was about to get up when Reno grabbed her around the waist anyway, hauling her up. She made a face at him.

Rude jumped up and grabbed the side, then somehow kicked his feet up and through, flipping to land. Yuffie ducked her head in. "Hope you guys get help soon!" she chirped.

They stared.

Reno ducked his head in and smirked. "Don't look so scared. Aren't I pretty enough for you?"

The mother clutched her baby. "Ugh, Reno!" Yuffie said and yanked him out. Yuffie reached into her shirt and – out of no where – pulled out fingerless gloves.

"You carry gloves in your bra around often, babe?"

"Hey, shut up. I need the padding." With that, she leapt onto the cable, wrapping her hands around and putting the cable between her feet, she began to climb. Elena made a noise.

"I can't do that! I could never climb the rope in gym!"

"Laney, you're a Turk!"

"Do you _think _I went around climbing ropes after Turk training!"

But Reno had already leapt onto the cable, followed by Rude, leaving Elena alone. She made a face, whipped off her tie and used it in place of gloves. Yuffie, Reno and Rude were disappearing up the rope, but she was making progress, albeit, slower because she didn't go carrying gloves around in her bra. She didn't have enough room as it _was._

Yuffie was making quick progress, and looked down to find Reno below her. "Hey! Quit lookin' up!" she said.

Reno grinned devilishly. "Well you shouldn't have worn a thong if you were gonna cut off those pants of mine."

"Pervert!" she accused and hurried her progress until she was at the top, and swung herself off the cable into the hallway. Reno came after her, then Rude, and then they waited. And waited. Reno stuck his head in the shaft. "'Laney?"

"Shut up, Reno."

"Need a little help?"

"No, Reno."

Reno shook his head. "Let's go then."

"Hey!" Elena's voice came. Reno just grinned and waved his arm in a gesture for them to follow, and Rude and Yuffie obliged. Their footsteps echoed down the hall until they reached the door. Elena heard it slam shut.

Elena finally struggled to get off the cable. When she was there, they were gone. "Guys?" she said, and walked down the hall. "Guys?"

She opened the stairwell door, and looked down to see three specks already down. "Hey! Wait up!" she called, and looked down at her skirt. With a sigh, she sat on the railing. "Wait!" she cried, and pushed off, zooming down the railing. On one sharp turn, she gave out a cry and fell backwards. Oh god, she was going to die. She was going to die, die, oh god.

The floor wasn't that hard. Confused, she looked up to see Rude's sunglasses staring down at her. She turned beet red, and he lowered her to the ground. "Best not try that again." Rude said in that deep rumble. Elena turned even redder.

"C'mon, Laney," Reno said, looking back at her, Yuffie pausing as well. "Yuffie has a job for us."

* * *

They sat in an abandoned warehouse, Yuffie sitting on a crate across from the three Turks. She folded her hands demurely in his lap, and she was mentally counting her cash. Reno was taken care of, but she doubted Elena or Rude would be as easy. She looked up to meet the cocky gaze of Reno as he laid back against a huddle of crates, propping up his foot. Rude stared at her through his sunglasses and Elena met her eyes squarely.

"Uh, well, basically, you all know who I am."

Rude nodded. Reno lifted his chin in an upwards nod' and Elena nodded as well. Yuffie still felt the need to pry her fingers under her wig and peel it off, shaking her hair out. It felt nice. The effect was still pronounced, Elena blinking and shaking her head a few times, and Rude peering at her over top his glasses. She rested the wig. "Keeping up with current events?"

Rude nodded.

"So you know who's left."

"You," Elena spoke up.

"And Vincent," Rude's deeper voice came.

"I want to find Vincent." She said. "But so far, I haven't been able to do it alone. You guys worked for ShinRa and…you're Turks. That's gotta be something. And I figure, the more people looking, the more likely I'll find him." They looked at her. She hurriedly added. "I'll pay you. Reno already said he'd do it. Now…"

"I'll do it," Elena said instantly. "I've been moving around a lot. I'll look."

Rude nodded. "So will I."

"How-"

"Free for me," Elena said. "Because it won't have all my attention. I'm looking for someone too."

"Yea, and she won't tell us," Reno piped up.

"If you've convinced Reno, I'll be fine," Rude said.

Yuffie sighed, slumping in relief. "Thank you," Her eyes lifted. "Honestly, I never thought I'd be asking for help from a Turk." Then she added quickly, "Not that it's bad! It's just…weird."

Rude nodded. "I understand."

"I don't." Reno said, and Yuffie turned to him. "I still don't get why this is so important…"

She was getting angry.

"Yea, getting your friends, but you know your risking everything to find a man who doesn't want to be found? And not only was he a Turk, he's Valentine…"

Boiling point.

"This is…pointless. Not that I won't help." Reno shrugged. "I just don't get it."

She burst.

"What don't you _get_ Reno?" she cried, exasperated. "It's just me! I'm alone now! There's no one there for me. No one. I can't even…I don't even remember their voices." Her voice was growing hoarser. "I…can't even listen to the last messages they gave me, because I smashed my PHS so they couldn't track me."

Reno just gazed at her steadily, aquamarine eyes never straying from her face.

"And…I have to find him, because I'm only seventeen Reno! And the world hates me for saving it!"

"I know what it's like to be hated."

"But do you know what its like," she snapped, "for the whole world to be trying to catch you and kill you?"

Reno puffed on his cigarette, considered, and – "Yea."

She looked over at him. "Except ShinRa," she said. "ShinRa didn't want you dead, and they were the ones who counted."

He was quiet. "But ShinRa didn't last, did it?"

Yuffie shook her head. "But…but…it's not right! We…we saved the world! We saved the world, and they just exploit the worst and most private things in our life and spin a tale about us, and everyone turns! Now, I can't even go home, because it's swarming with Auhncore." She looked at him, her grey eyes full of wounded pride. "_Just_ when we were free, Reno. Just when we were rebuilding, just when we were regaining our honor, they come! Just like when I was a little girl, they swarm all over, like little insects. And it's not right!"

"So you want to find Valentine, and increase your risk of being caught?" Rude said carefully.

She sighed, rounding on Rude. "Don't you see? It's the man who's lived longest in our group and the girl who's lived shortest. Just us two!" She held up two fingers, jabbing them in Rude's face. "And if I don't find him, then it's me, all alone. It's live together or die alone. That has _got_ to sound familiar, huh Turks? Though I guess ShinRa encouraged you to die alone. But I_ don't want to be alone._ I want to get my friends back. And that Vincent's the only one left makes me the luckiest unlucky person on this planet. Lucky because if any of us can do this, Vincent can. Unlucky because if Vincent doesn't want to be found, he won't be."

"…He _was_ a Turk," Rude said.

Yuffie turned. "Yea! Yea he was, and one of the best Turks. Plus, he's _Vincent! _If he can't do this, I don't know who can."

"…how about us?" Reno asked, smirking. "We could help."

Yuffie bit her bottom lip. "Not without Vincent. It's…we're AVALANCHE. Besides, I just…I need to find him, okay?"

Reno and Rude exchanged glances. Simultaneously, they nodded. "You'll have to trust us." Rude said.

Yuffie bit her lip.

* * *

An hour later, they were by the remains of the ShinRa building. Reno and Rude looked around, and then ducked inside. Yuffie followed, clueless and trusting the very men who'd tried to kill her so many times before. She followed them into the rusted ruins, disappearing into the once great ShinRa tower.

The insides were a mess. There was still some semblance of a structure, but there was rubble on the floor and a crossbeam that lashed through the room, still hanging on with one side to an upper story. They moved carefully through the ruin, ducking under crossbeams and stepping over metal and ruins. Finally, they came to the elevator. It was a beautiful and tragic wonder to Yuffie, to step through the dilapidated ruins of what had once been beautiful. A great and terrible beauty, and it made Yuffie's heart heavy. But at last they came to the elevator. Yuffie shook her head. "Guys, the elevator isn't going to…"

"We're not going that way, Legs." Reno said, and looked over. His eyes landed on the gold plate that had the little white sign that read 'In case of fire, take stairs' and had the little stick figure going down the stairs with a fire. Reno reached out and pressed the light. Yuffie was about to say something, but amazingly, the light pushed in. Rude turned, and the other three followed suite. Behind the receptionist's desk was a circle on the floor, the ShinRa logo within. Suddenly, the edges glowed blue and the floor lifed. The sides of the circle were the hinges for eight triangles that formed a circle, and they all lifted and stood straight up. Then they sunk down to mechanical whirs, sinking into the floor. Inside, the blue elevator was revealed. Yuffie gasped and peered in.

The inside was the same bright, transparent blue. The elevator reminded her of the little containers at the bank that you used in the drive through line to put checks in. Of course, it was larger, but had the same black bottom that was like a cap, and it indented in the same way – only the buttons were on the place the wall came out.

This feeling was intensified as Reno hopped in, followed by Rude and finally Yuffie. A black top slid over, and Reno pressed a button and looked over his shoulder, a grin sliding onto his features. "Hold onto your horses, Yuff."

She hardly had time to ask why when suddenly the elevator shot off. She yelped, and realized this indeed was inspired by the tube at the bank, at first going straight down before making a sharp curve. Yuffie felt her stomach revolting, and sunk to the ground, clutching her stomach. Reno grinned as he was thrown against the opposite wall, and Yuffie glared at him. "Don't puke on me."

"Oh, trust me, I will."

Since they were currently going sideways, they were against the surprisingly soft top of the elevator – then again, if they were going to throw people around, it wasn't surprising that it was soft. The elevator started to curve again, more gently, when suddenly it took a sharp curve and was going straight down. They came to a stop, and the doors opened. Yuffie staggered out, spotted the nearest trash can and hurled.

"Gorgeous. Green suits you, Yuff," Reno said.

She made a very rude gesture in his direction.

He laughed, so she grabbed his sleeve and used it to wipe off her mouth. "Fuck!" he said and yanked his sleeve away. Rude's low rumble of a laugh came, and something went flying towards Yuffie. By instinct, she snatched it out of the air, but she dropped it. Feeling a blush on her cheeks, she picked it up. Rude walked by her.

"Gum?" she said.

"Cinnamon," he explained. "Puke breath."

Yuffie couldn't conceal a laugh as she popped three pieces in her mouth. Beginning to chew, her mouth seared and she pursed her lips. Rude shook his head, and kept walking with Reno. Suddenly, they came to a door and simultaneously whirled around. Rude stood straight and stiff, suit impeccable and stiff, looking full the part of an intimidating bodyguard while Reno stood next to him, Rude's polar opposite with his messy suit and lazy slump, hair wild and cocky smirk. It was an odd contrast, and Yuffie found herself wondering how they became friends.

But they both looked serious now, so Yuffie stood up straight.

"You won't like who we're going to introduce you to. But…" Reno said.

"You have to do one thing." Rude said.

Yuffie eyed them. "What?"

"Promise. Not. To scream," Rude said, slowly and carefully.

With that, Rude turned the handle and pressed on the door, his arm extending back as the door opened to reveal more and more. Reno walked in and took a lazy stance next to something. Rude nodded to her as she passed him, and she pressed against the door so Rude could follow her in. She stood, and saw a shadowy figure, who seemed to realize this wasn't a normal occasion. Rude flicked on a light.

Reno was standing by a wheelchair, and in it was a person cloaked in white. A grin slid onto their features.

Wait. Yuffie knew that grin.

Reno tapped him on the shoulder and the man nodded up at him, and stood up with a flourish, whipping off the white cloak. The thin white cloth fluttered to the floor forlornly, and she gasped. One glance from Rude shut her up though, before she made a louder noise. "But…but…you're…you're _dead_."

"Apparently not." He laughed.

Yuffie shook her head, hands coming up flat on either side of her head and she shut her eyes, shook her head and stomped a foot. The man made an amused sound. "No, you aren't real! You aren't real, you are _dead_."

Suddenly, there was someone else right in front of her, and there were fingers under her chin. He lifted her chin, and he leaned down, brushing his lips against hers. Reno yelped in alarm. "Is that real enough for you?" he asked softly.

Yuffie Kisaragi's lips tightened into a line, and her eyes lifted to stare defiantly at none other than Rufus ShinRa.

He smiled. "Been a while."

* * *

**A/N:**

For the record, this story is after game, and has nothing to do with Advent Children. Other than the wheelchaired man thing. Whooo. Bet you had a tough time guessing who that was.

As for the random 'catch me' thing? No. Clue. That's why I shouldn't be allowed to listen to "Modern Swinger" by The Pink Spiders while writing. More things like that will make you groan in the future.

As for why Elena wasn't with them in the Shinra office? Well, next chapter will reveal. Dun. Dun. You're dying with anticipation. I know.

Thank you to my reviewers: MysticKoorime, Chibi Ninjaa , MadMaz87, navi the rabid pixie, AstraelTheDestroyer, In Search Of Paradise, saharasfury, FaithfulFeather and TOWTWUKER

So I was supposed to upload this yesterday. _Oops._

_P.S.S. Check out my new almost-retardedly-fluffily-cute Yuffentine one-shot Steal The Stars. -endshamelessadvertising-_


	6. Aconite

**Chapter Five**

Aconite

_Whose gnawed trees breathe a delicate air_

Cloud woke up the next day barely remembering where he was. Then he saw the windows on either side of the cell, and remembrance seeped in. He dragged his feet over the side of the bed and ran fingers through his hair. Then, he hurriedly walked over to the window on his left. There was Reeve, sleeping. He strode to the other side – Tifa, check. Looking across he saw that Cid was there, and he could see a glimpse of red that told him Nanaki was there, and a glimpse of Barret's bulk that told him the man hadn't been taken. He breathed again. His eyes lifted, vivid against the white of the room. He heard Tifa stir in the room next to him. His hands gripped the bars tightly. This wasn't right.

His knuckles turned white.

He started rattling the cage. "Hey!" he yelled, looking around the room. "Hey!"

Cloud tried to find the camera in the room, and heard his friends stirring.

"The &%#$?" Cid's disgruntled voice came.

"Hey!" Cloud roared, rattling the cage. "I know you can hear me! So listen to this!"

He saw a subtly hidden camera swivel to the direction of the major movement. Cloud looked up and stared straight at the camera. "Listen here!" he shouted. "You will _never_, _ever _find Vincent or Yuffie! Never! And you will _never_ win. You hear me?! You won't find them! They are too smart for you!"

His anger mounted, and he could hear all of his comrades awakening. They were shouting at him, talking to him, but he couldn't hear. "You will never win! Because even if we can only count on Vincent and Yuffie to get all six of us out of here, if we can only count on them to take down your whole company, they will! I know they will save us! They will take. You. Down. YOU WON'T WIN!" he roared.

"Cloud!" Tifa was shouting.

"Vincent and Yuffie will save us, them against the world, and then it will be us against the world! All eight of us and you will _not_ destroy these people!"

"My, my Cloud, very passionate," a deep voice came.

Six heads turned. Reeve groaned. Barret said 'hell, no,' while Tifa and Nanaki sat in stony silence. But AVALANCHE's feelings were best expressed by Cid.

"Fuck."

A man strode in who wore a nice suit, impeccably clean, but the tail of his shirt was not tucked in completely. He was businesslike, but his hands were tucked into his pockets. He strode straight into the middle of the room, turned on his heel and looked straight at Cloud.

"So you think you will be 'saved,' do you Cloud?" he asked.

Cloud's eyes were drawn to a tiny scar that passed diagonal just across his temple, no further. The man brushed a few strands of dark bangs out of his chocolate brown eyes. He ran hands over his black, pressed suit, which was somehow just off perfect. "So you really think you will be 'saved?'"

Cloud glared.

"Were you saved last time, Cloud?"

"No. The people of this world thought they were saved by you, and then realized the truth. Now, they're being saved by us."

"Bullshit." Cid spat.

The man turned so that he was in profile to Cloud and Cid. "Maybe so, Highwind. But they believe us. The people believe us. That's all – they're all – that matters." Then he turned in a circle, addressing them all. "So you think you're going to be saved?" he said loudly, and turned to Tifa's cell. "How about you, lovely? Do you think you'll be saved?"

Tifa's lips made a tight line.

He laughed. "I see." He continued to turn in a slow circle. "What would _you," _he bellowed, yet cool as a cucumber, "know about being _saved_? If I recall, _you_ did the saving last time! So what would you of all people know about being _saved?_" his laugh was cruel. "You are not_ going_ to be saved! You are going to wallow in false hope and they will _never_ come for you! Because if they do, they will fail. They will be captured, and join this happy little party. You are not going to be saved. It is impossible."

Tifa laughed, a true laugh barely hindered by bitterness. Every head in the room swiveled her way. "'Tifa Lockheart! Don't you even try to tell me it's impossible. Nothing is impossible – I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie after all!'" Tifa laughed, interrupting her quote of Yuffie. "'So never tell me never, got it?'"

There was silence. "Your little ninja friend tell you that?" the business-like man asked.

Tifa nodded curtly.

"Recently?"

Tifa met his eyes squarely. "I haven't seen Yuffie Kisaragi since the Great Edge Riot, as you are calling it now."

"Hm. Well, lovely-"

"Miss Lockhart."

"…as I was saying _lovely,_ the moment your ninja would set foot in this building – or even in Midgar – we'd snatch her up so quick you wouldn't even have time to blink."

Cloud laughed bitterly. "Oh really?"

"Yes, really." The man said with annoyance in his stance. He sent a sideways glare at Cloud.

"Remember Sheila Bits?"

The man looked surprised. "Of course. Wonderful secretary, worked for the SP. _You_ kidnapped her in your escape, and then you killed her. We found her corpse a month afterwards."

Cloud shook his head, blonde spikes swaying. "I didn't kill Sheila Bits. Sheila Bits didn't _exist_."

"What are you talking about?" the man hissed, eyes narrowing.

"Don't you get it? Sheila Bits wasn't kidnapped, she helped me escape! I would have been here months ago if not for her. You say you would have caught Yuffie the moment she set foot in Midgar, but, guess what? She was _working _for you."

His eyes stared at Cloud ruthlessly. "Lying. We found her corpse."

"You found a corpse with the same hair – which was, even on 'Sheila,' obviously dyed – eye color, blood type and very close to height and weight. Of course you figured she would have lost weight while I 'tortured' her. She had no family, so the only people to ID her were you. Guess what? Yuffie Kisaragi infiltrated you, and she conned you."

Tifa laughed. "What else would you expect from the greatest female ninja ever?"

Barret's low rumble of a laugh joined, followed by Reeve's and Cid's. The man looked angry. "We won't make that mistake again."

The man turned on his heel and strode off, but right before he exited he looked over his shoulder. "Hey, Hero," he said.

Cloud, knowing it was directed at him, looked over.

"You won't be 'saved.'"

With that, he turned from the room.

Silence settled over the room, interrupted only by Cid drumming his fingers.

"Who was he?" Cloud asked the others sharply.

"His name is Lianer Side but they call him Mr. Core," Cid answered with a growl.

"Cloud?" Tifa asked quietly. Cloud looked over. "Why did you tell them that? They're going to tighten security ridiculously, intensive checks of all employees…If it was going to be hard for Yuffie and Vincent before…now…."

A slow, bitter, tight-lipped smile curled onto Cloud's face. "Because once they realize that one of us was right under their noses, they're going to panic. And once they realize that so many things they thought were true was a lie, and when they realize that all the information Sheila Bits made for them was faulty, they are going to panic."

Understanding flooded Tifa's face. "They'll panic. They'll be shaken."

"That's right."

"Because the more shaken they are, the more panicked they become, the more loopholes Vincent and Yuffie can find."

Cloud gave a curt nod. "And if we're going down Teef, we're going down swinging."

* * *

Reno was staring, and even Rude was peering over the top of his glasses. The two Turks exchanged a bewildered look and then right on staring. Rufus smirked and Yuffie fumed, and finally Reno broke through the deafening quiet. "Didn't see _that_ one coming, yo."

Rufus chuckled lightly. "Oh yes, Miss Kisaragi and I are old friends."

Grey eyes were stone cold as Yuffie glared up. "You should be _dead_," she said, her voice quiet and deadly.

"I managed to escape into a zone of lesser danger before the beam blasted the tower. And so, I lived, even as ShinRa died."

"So what's with the wheelchair?"

Rufus shrugged. "Have you ever tried to keep a thin cloak like _that_ on while you're standing? Besides, there is a lesser chance of being recognized. There was a time when I needed it. That time isn't now, though."

"You should be _dead_."

"Yes, I believe we've been over this."

"Well it doesn't count anymore, I hope you know," Yuffie said bitterly.

"It doesn't?"

"Nope."

"And why not?"

"Because we thought you were dead."

"But I'm not dead."

"Hold on, wait a second." Reno cut in. "What the _hell_ is going on here?"

"…well," Rufus started. "Miss Kisaragi-"

"How do you know I'm a Miss, hmmm? What makes you think I'm not married?"

Rufus raised his eyebrow. "For one, you aren't wearing a ring. Secondly…" he twisted around and looked at Rude, who stood stoically in perfect bodyguard stance.

"She's a Miss." Rude confirmed, only his lips moving. Rufus nodded, a wry smile curling onto his lips.

"So see? You're a Miss. Anyway, Reno, _Miss_ Kisaragi and I-"

Yuffie had reached up, quicker than a flash, and grabbed Rufus's pretty blonde hair. She yanked him down to her level, and stared him straight in his one uncovered eye. "If you say another word, Rufus ShinRa, I will snap your neck right here and now."

"Wouldn't do that, Yuff," Reno's lazy drawl came.

She looked over, and saw both Reno and Rude's guns aimed straight at her. "Now be a nice little Princess and let go of our president."

"Or you won't be able to hold onto him," Rude said.

Reluctantly, Yuffie let Rufus go, who rubbed the roots of where his hair had been grabbed. "Quite a grip there, Yuf-"

"Miss Kisaragi."

"…Miss Kisaragi."

"Besides," Yuffie said, sticking her nose up in the air. "All the better for degrading Presidents of Evil Corporations with."

"Quite some cynicism you have there, Miss Kisaragi."

"All the better to guard myself with."

Rufus shook his head. "Anyway, why are you here?"

Yuffie looked back at Reno and Rude. Rufus turned around and sat in his wheelchair again. "Well, you've been keeping up on current events, right?" she asked.

A slow, even nod, more like a slight inclination of the head.

"So you know-"

"That all of AVALANCHE besides you and that former Turk, Valentine, are in jail."

"Yup."

"And, from me to you dear President," Yuffie said too-sweetly, "here's my thanks."

_SMACK! _

An angry handprint was all that was left as Yuffie quickly slapped the man, and she dropped all feints of sweetness. Raising her hand again, she heard a click to see Reno and Rude aiming their guns at her. Rude held his gun out with a straight arm, facial expression never flickering from its grim set. Reno, however, wore a smirk and was slumped in Rufus's wheelchair. He was still raising his gun as Yuffie looked, not because he couldn't raise it quickly, but because he chose not to. He rose higher than necessary and let it fall an inch or too, so the slightly bent arm had the gun pointing straight at Yuffie. "Stop that now." Reno said in the air of talking to a little kid. He wheeled the wheelchair in a circle, smirking. "We're still in service to our dear President."

"Nice you know you care, Reno," Rufus chuckled, looking over his shoulder.

"'Till death do us part," Reno said mockingly, a grin dancing on his face and Rufus rolled his eyes. Yuffie shivered; the truth in it was overwhelming.

"How sweet. Now get out of my wheelchair." Rufus turned to her, and looked down on her – no great feat, really. "Now what was that for?"

"Please. Auhncore _is_ ShinRa, and for you to sit here…and act like you have…" Yuffie's eyes widened. "Oh Leviathan."

A horrible realization dawned on her. Her very veins filled with hate and anger, and her lips drew into a tight line. "You started the whole thing," she said quietly at first, her voice growing in volume. "And chances are that since you're _alive_ and everything, you're behind the curtain."

"Yes," Rufus admitted, and walked back to sit in his wheelchair, his Turks on either side. "I did start Auhncore. With the help of two of my former staff, ones you've never met. 'Encore,' spelled correctly, was only too obvious. And it just happened that these men were Mr. Auhn and Mr. Core. Well, they are now. The whole thing was perfect. So it was set up. We were going to discredit AVALANCHE, only so we could take the spotlight…

"But it spun out of control. Mr. Auhn and Mr. Core shoved me out of the picture, even to the point of drawing a gun on me and telling me to turn my wheel and get out from behind the curtain. So I left, and they arrested AVALANCHE. I have nothing to do with Auhncore."

"So why are you going to help me?" she asked suspiciously.

Rufus's smile was a curl of the lips. "Revenge. No one takes Rufus ShinRa's spotlight, Miss Kisaragi.

"No one."

Yuffie strode over, and the Turks were ready to move. All Yuffie did, however, was look down at the sitting man. His gazed turned upwards. For once, she could look down at him – though even sitting in his chair, he wasn't shorter than her by much – and her grey eyes could bore down into his. But he was the one who spoke. "Help me, Yuffie. You have nothing to lose-"

"Except my friends!"

"-ahh, but in helping me take down Auhncore, you are getting your friends back. It's all taken care of, don't you see?"

Yuffie glared. "You'd think taking down _one_ evil corporation and the evil general they created would be enough," she muttered.

Rufus laughed. "We're like a phoenix Kisaragi. We rise from the ashes."

Yuffie, unexpectedly and abruptly, stuck out her hand. "If you help me find Vincent Valentine, and proceed to help me save AVALANCHE, I will aid you in taking down Auhncore. Do we have a deal?"

Rather than shake her hand, a devious smirk that was horribly reminiscent of a snake curled onto his lips. He took her hand gently and held it up to her lips. "Of course," he said, lips touching her skin as he spoke, sending shivers up her arm. He brushed his lips over her hand. She snatched her hand away.

"Then let's go."

* * *

Reno and Yuffie left the ShinRa building, as Rude had opted to stay behind with the Presdient. As soon as they entered into the foot traffic, before Reno could protest, the teenager split and disappeared into the crowd, painfully conspicuous with her grey cut-off sweatpants and yellow and white striped tank top. She flashed him a peace sign over her shoulder and just like that, she was gone. Shaking his head, he reached into his pocket to call 'Laney and relay to her what just happened. But when he reached in his pocket, he found a piece of paper.

Reno pulled it out, expecting to find a lipstick-print and a girl's phone number, but instead finds a carefully folded note. To his surprise, the shape of the paper is in a crane, and it was barely squished. He unfolded it while attempting not to rip it (and occasionally failing) he found a note.

_Guess what, Turkey-Butt?_

_You and your little Turkey friends are going to gobble on over to…uh…was never really good with clues. But here it goes. You'll gobble on over to 'the place where the sky fell.' And no, that is not all of Midgar. Dummy. Gawd, that's such a painfully obvious clue. So here goes the next one._

'_The place where the sky fell, but the sun still managed to shine.'_

_See why I always sucked at poetry?_

_By the way, be there tomorrow around 'the time that the seventh layer of heaven would open.'_

_Buh-Bye,_

_The Brat._

Reno laughed and tucked it into his pocket. He laced his fingers together and stretched his arms above his head, arching his back before lazily sauntering into the crowd. His bright red hair could be seen bobbing through the blacks of the crowd, parting through crowds and crowds of people who didn't dare touch. He looked around the devastation that was Midgar, that – even before Meteor – had always been Midgar, and he wondered where in Midgar the sun still shone.

* * *

Reno pushed open the door to the church that had somehow survived not only the falling of the plate, but the falling of Meteor. Sauntering in, he was followed by Elena and Rude on either side of him. With a smirk at his brilliance, he plopped into the flowers that he had once tread on brutally; right before warning the guards not to crush the flowers. Rude and Elena opted not to sit, as Rude was too stoic and 'Lana was too focused on being a Turk. Without thinking about it, the three Turks automatically noticed all possible exits and entrances, all possible weapons, and all possible barriers.

"Are you sure this is it?" Elena said after ten minutes.

Reno nodded. "She said the place where the sky fell and the sun still shone. She meant where the plate fell. And this is the only place in Midgar that the sun shines – hope."

"Time?" Rude asked, looking around from under his glasses.

"She said around the time the seventh layer of heaven opened." Reno explained.

"What?" Elena asked.

"Well. Not sure, but I'm pretty sure she meant around the time Seventh Heaven opened."

Elena stared at him blankly.

"Tifa Lockheart's old bar." Rude answered.

"And of course ol' Rude would know when that opened, eh?" Reno winked. "But she usually opened around four."

As soon as Reno said this, Rude and the redhead exchanged a quick glance and a curt nod. Abruptly, Rude started walking out, and Reno looked unfazed. Elena jumped though, and as he walked past her Rude gave her a small nod. He walked out the door, and only then did she come to her senses enough to ask "Where are you going?"

Rude looked back at her. Then he walked out. The door shut.

He didn't answer.

Elena checked her watch. Three forty-five. Her hand rested over her gun and she strode to the back of the church, and ducked down behind the last pew. If they had any 'unwanted visitors' she could get them when they walked through the door. There was no point in standing in front of the door – someone could shoot you through the door, it was no help in keeping people from walking in, and you had the disadvantage.

Elena looked over. Reno was lounging in the garden, using his forearms to prop him up. Lazily he plucked a blue violet and shoved it to his nose, smelling it. Lazy as he looked, Elena knew he could reach his gun or nightstick in a flash. Even smelling a flower, Elena knew he was watching every entrance he could see for the arrival of the ninja or any unwanted. Then Elena noted the flower. Blue violets. Watchfulness.

She chuckled.

Suddenly, something fell through the hole in the ceiling. Reno rolled out of the way as the small object landed in the flowers. In an instant, Reno had his gun pointed at the ceiling. Elena's was pointed to the hole as well, but then she moved it back to the door. A double strike was the last thing they wanted.

Cautiously, Reno pulled his shirt sleeve over his hand (in case the object would hurt by touch) and picked it up. He smirked, and the gun lowered. He held the small sphere up and Elena squinted at it, and then laughed. In his fingers he held a yellow materia – a Steal materia, to be exact.

The ninja was announced.

So it wasn't a surprise when, the next instance, a larger object dropped through the hole and landed in a crouch. She had managed to land right in the center of Reno's imprint in the flowers, almost as though she hadn't wanted to crush any more grass or greenery. The figure straightened and tossed short, messy, mousy brown hair out of unremarkable yellowish eyes. A hand raised and fingers slipped under the hairline (which, even though Elena had seen her do this, _still_ looked unnatural, creepy and _not right_) and peeled off the incredibly realistic wig. Shaking out black hair, she grinned. "Turkeys."

"Turks," Elena corrected, and strode to the front of the church.

"You're short some people." Yuffie frowned. "Where's-"

"Coming," Reno said sharply. Yuffie and Elena both sent him questioning looks. He shrugged them off and stood, brushing off stray grass and petals.

"How long?"

"Five minutes, tops."

Yuffie looked around the church.

"Don't worry," Reno said. "I had one of my buddies set a fire on the other side of town. Even if anyone did come around here anymore – which they don't – they will all be flocking to the fire now."

Yuffie nodded and plopped into the grass. Her face softened as she stroked the grass and a flower petal. Reno ungracefully flopped onto the floor, this time sitting on the ground with his back to a pew. His one leg stretched out while the other leg was bent up, and his elbow rested on the knee, the picture of casualness. Elena awkwardly sat in the grass with her hands supporting her. Yuffie pulled off her backpack and they sat for about three minutes when the door burst open.

Rude walked in, the epitome of intimidating with his serious expression, sunglasses and purposeful stride. The image was ruined, however, by the fact he was pushing a wheelchair. Elena straightened and sent a confused look at Reno, who avoided her gaze as he plucked petals off his violet. Yuffie glanced at the man but returned to the flowers she was looking at, plucking aconite out of the ground and raising it to eye level. Twisting the stem between her fingers, her hand lowered and let the aconite rest between fingers as she looked at the cloaked, wheelchair man.

As Rude and the wheelchair man grew closer, Elena's hand rested on her gun, which lay beside her in the grass. Of course, if Rude was escorting the man in without any bonds, he was probably a friend rather than a foe. Reno stood and went to stand next to the man. "Now Laney…don't be upset-"

"She doesn't know?" Yuffie interrupted.

Reno rolled his eyes. "No. Anyway, don't be upset with us Laney…"

"It wasn't our choice," Rude's deep voice picked up on the sentence.

"So whatever you do-" Reno said slowly and emphatically.

"Stay calm."

The hood of the cloak lowered.

Elena leapt to her feet.

Rufus Shinra gave her a slow nod. "Elena."

At first, she was dumbfounded. The supposedly dead President of Shinra was sitting right in front of her, and none of the other three looked shocked. Reno was slicing bits off the stem of his blue violet with his fingernail. Rude stood stoically behind Rufus, and he was pointedly staring ahead (enough time with Rude and you could tell.) Yuffie was suddenly very interested in her aconite.

"Puh…puh…Puh-res….President…Rufus…"

"Yes Elena."

"You…are…You are…You're alive!"

"Yes, Elena."

Yes, at first she was dumbfounded.

Then, she was angry.

"And you _knew?!"_ Elena shrieked, turning to Reno and Rude. "You _knew_ and you didn't _tell_ me!"

"Laney-" Reno started.

"Don't 'Laney' me Reno! You knew! And…" her eyes swept to Yuffie. "And you told _her!"_ she spewed angrily, jabbing a finger at Yuffie. "You told HER before you told me!" Her anger rose. "And would you even have TOLD me if not for _her_?!"

Elena's eyes were bulging and her anger only grew as she continued to rant. "All this time, when you two go out and make up some excuse for me not to go it's because-"

"Elena," Rude's deep voice came suddenly.

She fell silent.

"It is my fault, Elena," Rufus said smoothly. "You have to understand that the last time I saw you, you were still a rookie. You were still a bit of a…well…"

"Loudmouth," Reno finished. "We told him you wouldn't tell but-"

"I've known these two the longest. They've earned my trust time and time again. You must understand." Rufus said.

Their words effectively shamed her, and she ducked her head. Mostly her guilt was Rude's disapproving stare, his lips twitched slightly downwards. Then she raised her head, and seeing Yuffie, her gaze grew sharp again. "But you told her first?"

"She needed his help, Lana," Reno explained. "We've been planning to tell you, but you haven't been 'round much."

Elena nodded, and awkwardly sank back down into the grass. "So what is this little meeting about?"

Yuffie took a deep breath, and after a quick glance around she focused her attention on the four in front of her. "About what you guys have offered to do for me. I figure, well, there are five of us and five major land masses. I've searched as many as I can, but some things are too difficult for someone in my position. Besides, I could just be following a cold trail. He could be moving as I search. Hell, we could be in the same building and if he jumped out a window while I was climbing the stairs, I'd be none the wiser. And Vincent was a Turk, and Vincent is well…Vincent. He doesn't leave a trail. At all."

"What if he's looking for you?" Elena asked suddenly.

Yuffie looked over at her. "Then I guess we're running in circles. Because I'm a ninja. I don't leave a trail."

"Go on." Rufus inclined his head.

"Anyway. I figure I'll have five times the chance I had before, right? I've been to the Northern Continent, Eastern and Western time and time again. But Wutai…well, naturally I can't step foot in that place. I have been there, but only once, in heavy disguise. Literally. I had on padding and fake skin. It was not pleasant. It isn't worth the precaution to go back there. Mideel…it's an island place. I've been there more times than Wutai, but not in recent times. For one, escape is hard there. If someone was to find me, I couldn't get off the island quick enough. I mean, at least Wutai has caves. Mideel has hills and practically no places to hide. Besides, it just isn't worth sickness to get over there. I mean, my motion sickness is already a giveaway, and if I use a tranquilizer my reflexes and senses are dulled. I can't afford that."

"So I need one of you on each continent. Obviously, Wutai is out for me. I'd rather not deal with Mideel."

"I'll take the Northern Continent," Elena said quickly. The others didn't seem to notice. Well, Rude looked up a little, but Elena hoped that was just him giving his attention.

"I'll take Wutai," Rufus said. "Who's going to question a man in a wheelchair?"

"Mideel for me," Reno said.

"Then I guess I'll take the Western Continent," Yuffie nodded.

"Which leaves ol' Rude here with Eastern," Reno decided.

"Um, President?" Elena said tentatively.

"Rufus now, Elena. I'm no president."

"Right, um, sir." Elena said, "Well, how are you going to get around in…well…a wheelchair?"

Rufus laughed. "I'll manage. Besides, that's a good reason to take Wutai. The people believe in respect for the disabled, most of the town if flat, as well as the buildings – minus the palaces and pagoda – and it's just one town. Not a continent."

Yuffie nodded. "And Reno or Rufus, whoever gets done first, could you check out Round and Goblin islands? I don't think Vincent would hide out there – inconvenience, you know – but it's worth a shot."

The two nodded.

Yuffie stared up at the hole in the ceiling. The five were quiet until Yuffie spoke again. "Cloud told me he made that hole," she said absently.

Reno chuckled. "Yea, he did. Then I came in and he started chucking barrels at me."

Yuffie looked at Reno sidelong. "You're kidding," she said with an air of incredulity.

"No joke, yo. Him and that Ancient chick were right up there." He pointed up at the ceiling. Yuffie laughed.

"Chucking barrels. How glamorous for our dear hero." Yuffie laughed.

Rufus chuckled. "Then I don't suppose he told you about cross-dressing?"

Yuffie's eyes grew wide. "_What?_"

"Yes," Rufus laughed. "In order to save Tifa from Don Corneo-"

Elena and Yuffie twitched.

"-He dressed up as a woman. _And_ got picked as Corneo's woman of the night."

Yuffie stared, and realized he was telling the truth, started laughing. Collapsing into hysterics, she took a deep breath. "They just told me he saved Teef! Not anything else!" Tears filled her eyes from her laughter. "I'm not going to let him live _that_ one down!"

The words rang into the air, and as Yuffie realized what she had said, the words sunk into the silence. She looked vaguely horrified by what she said.

"Hey, yo," Reno said, standing. "We'll get your little pals back, Yuff, don't sweat it."

Elena cringed. He had already given the ninja a nickname. She looked over at the girl who was fidgeting with her aconite flower, and felt a pang. Yuffie had just arrived, and already she was shoving Elena out of the picture, however unintentionally. _After all_, Elena thought bitterly_, she could keep up with them back at the elevator. _She 'needed' the President's help. She had gotten all the Turks and Rufus's service for almost nothing. So envy twitched into Elena's heart, but she shook it off. Elena was Rude and Reno's friend. Elena had earned her place among the Turks. Yuffie was no Turk.

Elena smirked.

Yuffie was no Turk.

"You can go now. I'm going to stay here. Meet me in The Watering Hole tomorrow at eight. Oh yea, and get the helicopter. We're leaving."

Rude gave her a curt nod and Rufus inclined his head slightly. Reno lifted his chin in that 'guy nod,' as Elena had dubbed it and Elena shook her head up and down a couple times. Together, the three Turks and their boss strode from the building. Rude and Reno pushed open the door and wheeled Rufus out. Elena started to walk through the door, and looked back.

Yuffie sat in the middle of the garden with her legs stretched out and a painful look on her face. In front of her face she twirled the aconite.

The doors swung shut on the picture.

Elena was left thinking of the little Wutain, who could have been Elena's photo negative. Where Elena was light and fair, Yuffie was dark. Quite odd, considering Elena's job and Yuffie's personality. But still, they were opposites.

Yuffie was from AVALANCHE, Elena was a Turk.

Yuffie had dark hair, Elena was blonde.

Yuffie had grey eyes, Elena had blue.

Yuffie was searching for a man.

Elena was searching for a man.

Maybe they weren't so different after all.

* * *

**A/N:** Thank you to my reviewers: RaiLei, AstraelTheDestroyer, TOWTWUKER, XxHowToSaveALifexX, Chibi ninjaa , saharasfury, MysticKoorime, InSearchofParadise and MadMaz87.

Sorry if I left anyone out!

Ooohhhh, Elena is getting jealoussss.

Hm. I don't know where flowers grow, but I don't think the two I mentioned specifically can't grow there. Besides, it's Aeris's magical garden, where magically flowers grow in places they aren't supposed to.

Magical, I say.

P.S.: Sorry for the Reffie voters, it's starting to look like a Yuffentine. Though there will be Reffie moments, I promise. :


	7. Alone With Their Screams

**Chapter Six**

Alone with their Screams

_Whose bloodied and scarred creatures are my dearest companions_

Cloud sat up on his hard mattress, rubbing his eyes. Rested as well as he could be, he still heard Barret's rumbling snores and Nanaki's snorts and occasional whimpers. Cloud looked dully at the camera; since that first time, he'd daily shaken the bars and yelled at the camera. Well, daily being the time between sleep. Day and night ceased to exist in this white prison. Auhncore wasn't even courteous enough to shut off the lights, leaving the bright fluorescents to burn into your retina, seeing them still after you shut your eyes. Cloud wasn't missing sleep though – he was going to be perfectly fine when the time came to get out of here.

His ritual could not be forsaken because of laziness, so he stood and dragged himself over to the bars. Gripping them, he glared at the camera. Shaking the bars a little, he saw the camera swerve and zoom. He'd learned that the camera's and microphones that were planted around the white-hellhole were ultra sensitive. They had all learned quickly though, the blind spots of the camera and that it was unwise to whisper through your windows – microphones were planted all around. But by the window was also a blind spot, so mouthing the words was effective.

"Yea, I'm not giving up." Cloud said stubbornly to the camera. "And I want you to know something new today: Yes, not the normal. Excited?" he said dryly. "Anyway," he still had to raise his voice, and even more because of the quaking snores of Barret. "My epiphany was this: you aren't going to kill us. You aren't going to kill us, and even if you do, it won't be for a long, long time. You'll put us on a death row that moves about as quick as a traffic jam. Because once we're gone, you'll have lost your one up. Sure, you're hoping that by the end, this will make them trust you. But our executions might turn them against you. Just the shock of seeing one-time-heroes so publicly killed. And once we're gone, you have nothing. Just some lingering trust that you can't guarantee, and a city still in shambles. We're what keeps the people in thrall of you; fear will do that."

"I'm sure it can." A dry voice came. Barret had waked with a groan at Cloud's normal raving and ranting at the camera, and the others were sitting in their cells, looking quite bored. Cid chewed on his spoon while cleaning his fingernails with his jumpsuit. Tifa was doing stretches, which she stopped on entrance of the newcomer. Reeve didn't bother to hide the Sharpie he'd managed to sneak in, doodling on his arm – his whole left arm, up to his mid-bicep was a sprawling mess of doodles and notes and even mathematical equations. He'd rolled up his sleeve to his shoulder, giving the impression of a tough prison man with intimidating tattoos. Well, if the Pythagorem Theorem was considered tough. The dragon (which Cloud noticed looked a lot like Leviathan) that spiraled down his arm did, though.

"Oh my god," Tifa groaned. "Is this supposed to be some sick sort of honor? Two visits from the biggest of the big in such a short time?"

The man chuckled. As he walked along, Cloud saw that it was an extremely fit man somewhere maybe in his fifties. His hair had once been dark, but was now mostly grey. His grey hair, though, just made him look more distinguished. It was slicked back, fitting in with his sharp, impeccable suit and crisp, lean figure. He had not let himself go just because he was aging, and it was clear there was muscle under the suit. His skin was tan, with some wrinkles, but well taken care of. His shoes were polished so brightly Cloud half expected a shoe-shine boy to pop out of nowhere whenever he got the littlest piece of dirt on it. His no-nonsense, chilling manner was made more unnerving by pale, ice blue eyes. The piercing orbs, despite betraying nothing but ice, could melt the strongest man into a nervous puddle. He calmly surveyed Cloud, ice seeming to spear through his very soul, taking in everything about him. Surprisingly, he stuck out his hand. Cloud did not take it.

"I am Jamison Auhn."

"Can't say I'm pleased to meet you."

Jamison Auhn did not chuckle. "You know, it gets quite dull to see the videos of you ranting at the camera." He said dryly. "And I asked Mr. Core," his eyes became half-lidded at the name, in an effective version of the eye-roll, "if it was…so impossible to make you stop. I didn't think I was reaching for the stars or anything."

He walked up and down slowly, but manner he did it in could hardly be described as pacing. He was not nervous, he was cool, calm, collected and even…bored. "But you are annoyingly relentless. But I am here for other reasons than that, but that can wait." Jamison stopped, and looked Cloud up and down briskly. "Hm." He seemed disappointed. "I had hoped the infamous Cloud Strife might have been able to escape by now…but…it seems you aren't all that great after all. I mean, you would think we could catch a seventeen year old before we would catch a gaggle of twenty, thirty and even hundred year olds. But it seems the seventeen year old is far clever than we…than you, actually, as well ever gave her credit for."

"Don't accuse us of underestimating Yuffie." Reeve said suddenly, sharply.

"But you do. You have. You always have. I mean, really, her training started when she could walk, really. That's how they do it, you know. They decide, and then they slowly faze in things. Her mother probably started her to start tying and untying knots before the little girl even realized what she was learning. Her father would play games with her, seeing how long she could balance on one leg. You always failed to acknowledge that she had just as much, possibly more, expertise in fighting than any of you. She hid it well, I suppose. Behind her little façade of brattiness. But still, once she managed to steal from under the noses of seven experienced fighters…well…you didn't seem to get it then, either. But when you had those little one-on-one battles, I understand that she defeated even you Cloud, failing only to the ex-Turk Vincent Valentine. Who is also currently out of the hands of the law."

Somehow, the chilly words had managed to shame them all, even if the words themselves weren't all that harsh. It was the way he said them; accusatory, cold, sending the words through their hearts like a harpoon. "But that, again, isn't why I'm here."

Suddenly, eight guards entered the room. "Mr. Wallace, Mr. Strife, you'll be leaving now."

Tifa sat up stick straight. Reeve looked puzzled, Cid looked suspiciously at Cloud, then Barret and then at Mr. Auhn, chewing on his spoon.

First the guards came to Cloud. Three entered the room and the rest stood in the way of the door, guns raised and pointed. Cloud sat on the bed, one of the guards was revealed to have a syringe. A mild sedative, to make him easy to transport, less violent. If Cloud moved, it would hurt more, and it was too difficult to move him with him knocked out. So he let them stick the syringe without care into his arm, and he clenched his teeth. The sedative worked quickly.

His eyes fell, half lidded and all his tense muscles became loose as jelly. The world was turning hazy, and the green-clad guards in front of him became blurs. He was swerving back and forth as he sat, but he barely realized it. His eyes rolled and they left him, slamming the cell shut. They went over to Barret, who was not about to take it silently. He shouted and turned and waved his stump of an arm around and even managed to knock out a guard. They over took him and put two syringe's in his arm, since he was a large man, and it would take a double dose to do to him what one dose did to the short Cloud. But sure enough, Barret was sedated and Cloud's cell was open. Four guards came to him, and both he and Barret were taken out, every guard facing straight front, impossible to tell what way they would go. Suddenly, all the lights went out.

The guards were silent as they moved, and Cloud knew Barret was moving in a different direction. The doors didn't make a sound as they opened or closed, leaving the rest quite literally and figuratively in the dark as to where they were going. Cloud heard a guard flip a switch for the lights to turn on, and heard the guards take less care as they walked. But there were not just four sets of footsteps.

There was five.

One pair, unforgiving as they slapped against the hard floor. They got into an elevator at one point, but everything was a haze. Cloud barely realized when he was taken to a room and sat down.

Who knew how long he was there. The sedatives weren't long lasting, but they were still in effect. Hours passed before his head finally started to clear, and the world continued to spin around him. Finally, the moving ghost of a room settled into one, solid picture and Cloud blinked. An hour or more later, his reflexes still weren't what he wanted, but he was regaining his vigor. Now, he was getting thoroughly annoyed and wondered just how long they planned to keep him there. His head was clear, even if his body was slow and sluggish. But just as he was getting peeved, the door opened.

Jamison Auhn entered. Cloud just noticed that he wasn't chained. He could get up and knock out Jamison now. Jamison and Cloud both knew he wasn't going to do that though, and Jamison met his eyes harshly for a moment. Apparently seeing what he wanted in Cloud's begrudging eyes, Jamison leaned against the table. His eyes narrowed. "Do you know why you're here?"

"I assume you're going to try and torture information out of me."

"Incorrect."

"…I don't know."

Jamison smiled.

"Do you know where your friend Mr. Wallace is being taken?"

Cloud raised only his eyes, and his steely glare met Jamison's eyes. Slowly, he shook his head in a small no.

"Torture."

"…how moral."

Jamison didn't laugh. "You, however, are here for a different reason." Then, suddenly, abruptly his manner changed. He turned and leaned against the table. "How much do you care for Miss Lockheart?"

Startled by the abrupt subject change, Cloud blinked. "Tifa's my friend." He finally replied.

"Mmmm." Jamison paced. "How about Barret? Cid? Reeve? Nanaki? Are they all best friends as well?"

Cloud, eyes still steely, gave a small nod.

"What if I said you could save one?"

Cloud raised his head.

Jamison started walking back and forth. "What if I said that you could do something for me. You could _get out of here_, even if just for a short time, and you can save someone."

"…what. What do you want?"

Jamison did chuckle. "Once a mercenary, always a mercenary." Turning, he met Cloud's eyes with his pale blue ones. "I want you to bring me Vincent Valentine."

Cloud was startled. He jumped slightly. "I can't do that."

"Oh, but can you?"

Cloud's lips pressed against one another. "First of all, Vincent is my friend. I can't do that. Secondly, really, _I can't do that_. Vincent can't be found if he doesn't want to be."

"…Yuffie. Yuffie Kisaragi. Bring me one of them or bring me both."

"…I can't."

Jamison walked to behind Cloud's chair. Then, he pulled out a remote and pressed a button. A section of the opposite wall moved, and a TV screen moved forward. Auhn pressed another button, and a black and white film started playing.

It started with a room. A flickering back view of a person tied to a chair. Then, the camera angle switched and Tifa was seen, tied and handcuffed to a chair. Her hair was short, as it is now, but it still stuck to her face. There were bruises on her jaw and eye. Her fingernails were a bloody mess, and tears were spilling out of eyes he knew were burgundy. On the table, a bloody pair of pliers sat, accompanied with an equally bloody bamboo stick, knife and a clean, menacing device.

The clip switched, and Tifa was screaming bloody murder. Her mouth was a stretching black 'O,' and her scream rang in Cloud's ears. Suddenly, the clip switched and now it was Cid screaming, and then Barret, then Reeve, then Nanaki's unnatural, beast like scream. Cloud had never heard the beast scream. Different clips of different tortures began to fly by, all of them screaming, until the clips ran faster and faster an dthe screams were left before-

Silence.

Now it showed Cloud in a torture room, and his jaw was clenched. Tears spilled out of his eyes, but he wasn't screaming. The man said something, and Cloud said something back, but the tape was muted. Just their mouths moved, no sound. Different clips played of Cloud's torture, never him screaming.

Then there was one. There was one, and it had to be a couple months in. Mouths moved, and Cloud was strapped to a table. Wires were attached all over, and then, a jolt was given. Cloud started convulsing violently. Then it got worse, and worse, and finally, he screamed.

His scream was interrupted by his friend's scream, until they were so burned into his mind he couldn't remember ever hearing something else. Then, all at once, they stopped.

This tape was in color, and showed a woman coming into work. She wore heels, and her hair was straight and red. Her shirt was fashionable, and she had a purse and a bag slung over her shoulder. She walked out of the camera's range, and the camera view switched.

This one was in black and white. The girl's heels clicked as she walked over to a desk, put her bags down, and then paused. Quite abruptly, she turned, and clacked over to the camera. Looking up, the camera zoomed on her and she smiled. It was now a close up of her face, and her smile turned into a grin, a grin Cloud knew so well. Yuffie's trademarked grin, no matter how different her face shape was.

The video paused, with the image of Yuffie's grinning face. It was like she was sending a message to her friends, a glimmer of hope. The video hung their, Yuffie's grin frozen in time.

"If you bring her," Jamison said softly, "we will not torture her. We wouldn't have; she's the heir to a country. Far too dangerous ground to walk on. The last thing we want is a war with Wutai. In fact, we've decided it would be best if she wasn't a prisoner at all…but…

"If you bring her, then you can save them. You can choose one of them, including yourself, to be saved. If you bring Vincent Valentine, two more can be saved."

Cloud looked at him, gaze sour. "That still leaves Vincent Valentine, Yuffie Kisaragi and three other of my friends in your clutches."

"…But can you bear their screams? Knowing you could do something to stop them.

"Can you bear their screams?"

Jamison's shoes were silent as he left the room, and the door shut with the weight of the world. He was left with the silence. He half wished the film would start again, but Jamison was not so kind. Because even though he wasn't hearing them now, they echoed. They filled the room, stifling and suffocating him until he could hardly bear it. Their screams filled the silent room. He was left with Yuffie Kisaragi's face.

He was left with their screams.

* * *

A girl with curly black hair sat at the bar, emerald eyes looking down at the drink she swished around. A song blared cheerfully and the bartender talked with the other customers about sports and various topics. Annoyed, she checked her watch. Eight-sixteen. Her watch was right down to a millisecond. She'd made sure of that, since her life could one day depend on it. Shifting in her sweatshirt, she knocked her heel lightly against the barstool in annoyance. Finally, two minutes later, the door opened, and the bar seemed to fall silent for a moment. Usually, it would stay silent at the two's entrance, but the gaggle of noise and talk resumed. Yuffie sighed in relief; they hadn't worn the suits.

She frowned, though, when only Rude and Elena entered. They surveyed the bar, so she turned in her stool and pulled her sweatshirt so the logo could be read clearly. Elena rolled her eyes and Rude shook his head. Yuffie had bought a sweatshirt with a giant target on it, a reference to once being the Turks target and now the target of Auhncore. Hopping off, no one noticed as the three exited.

"Where's Red?"

"…" Rude said.

"That is so rude, Rude."

"Geez. Really. I bet your mama named you that because you like, gave her the finger as soon as you came out of the womb."

Was she imagining it or were Rude's lips curving into a small smile? Elena looked at him in disbelief. Ignoring it, she led the way as Yuffie ran a commentary on all her theories as to why Rude was named Rude. Finally, Elena pointed. "We're here."

Yuffie stopped, startled out of her rant. When she looked, she quirked an eyebrow at Elena. Sitting in front of her was an old warehouse. Elena held up a hand, and then, suddenly, a sound broke the air. Blades cutting through the air filled the area, and Yuffie looked up to see a helicopter rising from behind the warehouse. A ladder dropped, and Rufus (not in his wheelchair) looked over the edge. "Hurry." He shouted, still seeming calm.

Elena grabbed the ladder, and Rude very politely stepped aside so Yuffie could grab next. The two females started to climb, and Yuffie shot a look down at Rude, who was still on the ground. "No looking!" she said, referring to her jean skirt.

"You're wearing shorts underneath." He said curtly.

Yuffie gaped. "You looked!"

Rude didn't respond, and the two girls continued to climb. Finally, at the top, Rufus hauled Elena and Yuffie, in turn, into the helicopter. Yuffie was impressed. It hadn't seemed to take a dangerous amount of effort. Rufus motioned to the wheelchair. "It builds up your arms." He replied.

"And here I was thinking people pushed you everywhere, President." Yuffie teased with a sardonic touch to her tone.

"You would think." Rufus responded.

With them all safely in the helicopter, Yuffie peered at the ground. "Huh?" a dot of a person was below. "H-h-hey! We forgot Rude!"

"He's staying here, remember?" Reno said as he piloted the helicopter, a toothpick hanging out of his mouth.

"Oh god. Who let _him_ pilot?" Yuffie said.

Reno flashed a grin, holding the toothpick with his teeth.

The effects of motion sickness were quick. She groaned, feeling her stomach start to churn. "Anyone got a tranquilizer?"

Reno didn't look. "What's wrong, Kisaragi?"

"…I get motion sickness." She groaned.

He shot her a look. "Oh hell no, you are _not_ puking on my baby."

Yuffie glared. "I'll take care to puke on _you_ then."

Reno seemed to puzzle over something. "What about all that travel you guys did? Buggy, Highwind, that little plane-thingie…?"

"Well. I spent most of my time on the Highwind in fetal position, upsetting Cid by puking on his machine. Spent the time on the Tiny Bronco on the edge of the wing, so sick my eyes were crossed. The buggy was a little better because, well, sometimes they let me drive."

All three in the helicopter stared at her incredulously. "They let _you _drive?"

"It was that or I puked on them. Cloud only got motion sickness when he was…well…not Zack."

Elena looked at her strangely. "Whatever," Yuffie said. "It was that or I fell asleep in the passenger seat."

"Wow. I pity Strife." Reno said."

"Shurrup," Yuffie gurgled.

"Get her a bucket," Rufus ordered. He handed her a bottle of pills. She popped five.

Rufus looked amused. "You know the recommended dose is two?"

"Shut up."

Rufus chuckled and watched as her sickness ebbed, and she leaned back finally able to sit without nausea, though looking at the moving ground still turns her green. Finally, her eyes flickered shut, even with Rufus watching the whole time. Her breathing turned longer and even, and when he's sure she's asleep, he reached up a tentative hand to try and find where the hairline of the wig begins. Suddenly, when he is still a hand's length from her skin, a hand flew up and grabbed his wrist in a death grip. Only then do her eyes flicker open. Her eyes are settled in confusion, but before she even rgistered she had procured a knife from god-knows-where. and At first, seeing Rufus Shinra tells her that there is no reason to stop the attack, but the events filtered in. She lowered the knife.

"How did you do that?" Rufus asked, curious.

"Psh. Like you don't train your Turks to do the same."

"…we don't train them to do that."

"I'll bet Reno can."

Rufus looked at Reno, and he gave a nod.

"Yes…but we don't train them to do that."

"I suppose you do suggest it."

"Well. Yes. But we don't spend time telling them how. We just send senior Turks to sneak up on recruits in their sleep, or throw small objects at them and see if they dodge."

Yuffie let a small laugh, not really a laugh at all. "It's kind of disturbing to see similarities between ninjas and the Turks."

"Similarities my ass, Kisaragi." Reno said from the pilot's seat. "It's survival, plain and simple."

Satisfied, Yuffie gave a nod. "Survival. That's the theme of my life now, isn't it?"

"Guess so."

"…Survival's a bitch." Yuffie decides.

Reno lets out a laugh, head tilting back with on hand on the joy-stick like control.

"You're preachin' to the choir, babe."

* * *

They dropped Elena off in Bone Village, but Rufus was more of a problem. Wutai was suspicious, or rather, Auhncore was, so getting in and out would be tricky. No one wanted to leave the helicopter as they escorted Rufus, on foot, to the village, so they decided to fly to Costa de Sol. It was the closest port to Wutai, and so they landed and the three remaining climbed off. Rufus insisted on his wheelchair, pointing out they could get the pity point of view, and so with the sun setting, they went to the docks. Yuffie's disguise hadn't changed, and her emerald eyes were sharp as her black curls bounced.

"Hey, got any boats to Wutai?" Reno asked, and motioned to Rufus, shrouded with his white cloak-sheet. "This guy is a businessman, has some meetings and a pending deal there."

The ticket man looked like he could care less. "We have a passenger boat leaving in a week." He drawled.

Yuffie huffed. "Anything _sooner_, bucko?"

The man looked Yuffie up and down quickly, and smiled. "We have cargo leaving in two days. If you guys were willing to do a favor…"

The tone of his voice had changed and Yuffie rolled her eyes, and walked – no sauntered – up to the counter. Her lips became poutier and she looked up at him from beneath her lashes. "Well," she said in a husky voice, "how about this?"

She slapped a large amount of paper gil on the table, and the man looked at it, and seemed slightly disappointed. "Yea, this will do." Pocketing the money, he scribbled something on a Post-It and handed it to Yuffie. "Get him here by five on Wednesday, and a sailor named Jim will be waiting. Don't be late, or it'll leave."

Reno nodded. His hair was currently covered with a knit hat, and the ponytail was hidden in the sweatshirt he wore. "Thanks." He gave a lazy wave of the hand and wheeled Rufus off, Yuffie following. She huffed. "So should I just start my search of the Western Continent here, or what?"

"Sure, babe."

"Stop that."

"What?"

"Calling me 'babe.'"

"Trust me, Kisaragi, it's a habit. _Trust me._"

Scowling, she hit him on the arm. Rufus sighed. "Quit acting like two year olds." Rufus never requested. "Get me into a hotel."

Since Rufus never requested, they obeyed.

* * *

Reno had left in the helicopter after getting a hotel room, leaving Yuffie to baby-sit Rufus and see him off on the ship. Currently she was lounging on the hotel bed, holding a mirror up to her face and plucking her eyebrows. Blame Tifa and Aeris.

Rufus was sleeping. He was one lazy sonnuva bitch. She heard some rustling, but refused to acknowledge him as he sat up from under the covers. She pretended not to notice as he stretched his arms over his head and yawned, exposing his muscled chest. Then, she pretended not to notice that he was only wearing white boxers (go figure). He grinned at her. She pulled at a particularly stubborn strand and swore.

She forced her eyes wide open and blinked quickly. She pressed at the now-red spot, as though pushing would reduce the pain. Rufus wandered into the bathroom, and she heard the shower flick on. Recovering from her pain, she finished up her eyebrows and scrutinized her face. No pimples, no giant boogers hanging out of her nose. Nice, newly plucked eyebrows. Contact-less eyes (those things were so annoying). No wig. No cheek implants. She looked down. No boob implants. Unfortunately.

All and all, she was Yuffie. It was a nice change. Even if she was risking the SP crashing through the windows and lowering themselves from the ceiling and through the doors, like those old SWAT movies. Oh well. At least she would be Yuffie in jail, not Lehla, Molly, Holly, Mandi, Candi, Fiona or whatever she was calling herself in jail. Just Yuffie.

She listened. The shower was still on. Surreptitiously, she glanced around the room. Then, carefully, she pulled out the makeup case. Not that she wore much. Not that she wore any, normally. But she turned away from the bathroom door as she carefully put mascara and her too-straight Wutain eyelashes. She was contemplating eyeliner when the bathroom door opened. She swore.

"Goddamnit, I nearly poked myself in the e…i…I…eh."

Apparently, he'd 'forgotten' clothes. Bastard. He just wore a towel around his waist, hair plastered to his face as he looked through his drawers.

"Hmmm," Yuffie mocked, attempting to hide her beet red face, "lesse…white suit, white suit, white suit OR the white suit?"

Rufus turned to her and raised an eyebrow. Luckily her face was normal colored again. "Funny." He said, and went back into the bathroom carrying a white suit.

"Nuh-uh." Yuffie said and snatched it away.

"What are you doing?" he asked sharply.

"Whoah there, towel-boy, keep holding on there." Her back had turned to him, and he was not comforted by her full hands. "Here we go!" she cheered, and turned.

He smelled something burning. With a mouth parted in disbelief, he turned to the suit, which was now on fire. His gaze turned murderous and he lunged, snatching the suit and knocking her off balance in the process. Throwing the suit to the ground, he stamped out the fire. But it was too late. The damage had been done.

He glared and marched into the bathroom.

When he emerged, she was gone.

* * *

It was a fine day outside for Yuffie Kisaragi.

Or rather, for Emma Spicer. A blonde with glossy, silky hair pulled into two low pigtails emerged from the hotel. A pale pink lollipop was in her mouth and she wore a tiny white miniskirt that had three sheer-like layers with a slip-like thing underneath (since otherwise it would have been see-through), a hot pink tank top and a hot pink bathing suit underneath.

Sometimes, Yuffie disgusted herself. So she decided not to be a dumb blonde. Today, she just might vomit.

That didn't work so well, however, because when she turned to walk to the nearest materia shack, she ran smack dab into a man. Stumbling backwards, she almost fell on her butt when the man swooped an arm down and caught her. When she could finally register who was holding her, she nearly blushed.

He was attractive, for sure. He was a surfer type, with dirty blonde shaggy hair and a Crest-whitestrip white smile, and an easy disposition. He was smiling now, and she would probably swoon if something else hadn't caught her.

There was something vaguely familiar about him. It nagged and bugged her, but she couldn't find it past that tan skin and easy smile. She couldn't put a finger on those bright black eyes, and she brushed it aside as yet another thing came to her attention.

He was not wearing bathing suit trunks and a rash guard, nothing vaguely Costa de Solian. Rather, he was wearing dark blue. A uniform, to be exact. A uniform with a shiny badge right over his heart. Yuffie had not just gone and ran into a guy. No. She'd run into a cop.

And she realized, with a suppressed curse, she'd forgotten contacts.

He was silent, and his smile faded as he was searching her face, just as she had done moments earlier. Confusion and disturbance clouded his eyes, but he seemed to put it aside and stood her up straight. "Sorry bout that." He said, and while his voice matched him, the itch of familiarity in her mind screamed.

"Um…no, that's alright. I mean, it was my fault. I mean…I'm sorry."

He laughed. "You're alright?"

"Fine. Uh, I have to go now." She said and turned quickly, heart-pounding, hoping that searching of her face hadn't been because he'd seen those grey eyes in Wanted Posters.

"Hey!" he called.

She turned.

"Could I take you out to dinner?" he asked.

Too perfect a setup. "Sorry!" she called. "I have a boyfriend."

On cue, Rufus stepped out of the hotel. It took her a moment to register that it was him, because rather than the normal suit he was wearing slacks and a button down shirt. She blinked, but walked up to him and kissed him on the cheek. Rufus stared at her, but as she smiled at the guy, he caught on. He laced his fingers through hers, and she had to fight a glare at the wickedness in her eyes. "Sorry," she said convincingly, "thanks for catching me."

Then she dragged Rufus off, leaving the police officer standing.

After they were a safe distance away, Rufus was still staring back, brow furrowed.

"What?" she asked.

"…what's a Mideelian police officer doing in Costa de Sol?"

She blinked once, as though it would rid of the confusion in her eyes. "Huh?"

"His badge." He said abruptly, shortly. "It said Mideel Police Department."

"Oh." Yuffie said. "Well…I dunno."

Rufus frowned. "I don't like it. I think you better beat it." He said.

Yuffie sighed, and looked at a large map framed on the side of a building, a map on which the Western Continent stretched, inches meaning miles. "You know, I was thinking the same thing."

Smack in the center of that map, Nibelheim glared accusingly. "I was thinking the same thing…"

* * *

"Listen, I just need a ride." Yuffie said, in the guise of a brunette with silky hair down past her collarbone. She had brown eyes and wore black leather boots that went up to her knees and had a heel. What no one knew was that the shoes were designed to make her taller, not only with the heel. It made her legs look long. She wore a black dress that barely went past her butt and had spaghetti straps. The rain made it stick to her skin like a second coating.

The boys inside the car looked her up and down. They looked around college age. Then they grinned. "Alright. Hop in. Where you heading to?"

"Nibelheim."

"Well we'll take you as far as North Corel, sweetheart."

She smiled in what she hoped was a sexy way. Apparently it was, because they grinned as she sat on a blanket in the back. She heaved her large duffel bag next to her, unzipping it in case she needed to protect herself. Then again, she had knives in these boots. So she smiled again, while thinking the whole time that she was not going to fall asleep this whole trip.

Four hours later, they decided to stop at a bar and motel. "Coming, sweetheart?" one asked, giving a dazzling smile.

"That's alright, I'll just go get some shut eye."

"No sweetheart," he frowned. "You're coming."

Grabbing her bicep, he yanked her out of the car. She stumbled. "Alright, alright, gents."

Following them inside, the dim lighting of the bar slid over her fake skin, and her skirt shifted as it threatened to rise past its already dangerous point. She was aware of all the eyes on her, aware of the way heads followed her. They sat down at the bar, and the bartender glanced at her. But this man saw pretty girls and slutty girls everyday. He slapped down some drinks without asking. They didn't protest.

The guys drank. She pretended to. Finally, they got so drunk they started slinging arms over her.

"Hey, sweetheart." One slurred, arm slung around her and hand dipping too low.

"Gimme a kisssssssss," the other said woozily and lurched forward, lips hitting against her cheek.

"Sorry boys," she said, "but I'm going home."

"Oh _no_ you're not." One said, and yanked her back after she stood up.

Now the bartender paid attention. Sure, he saw sluts and whores and girls looking for a lay everyday, but he wasn't about to stand by and watch a rape about to happen. He wasn't about to have the police crawling all over his bar. "_Hey!_ Leave her be."

"Shut up." One boy snarled. Hands were scrambling all over her.

Yuffie rolled her eyes. Hand sneaking down to her boots, she pulled out a thin knife. Her hand and the knife snaked up to one's neck. "Hey." She said, as sweetly as possible. "Get your hands off now, boys."

Apparently, this made them think twice. Backing off, they held their hands off. "Fine then, whore." One spat, and stood up. His buddy followed, and they staggered out the bar.

"Great," she huffed. "There goes my ride."

The bartender leaned forwards. He had sandy blonde hair and stubble, and a dimple in one cheek. "Where ya headin'?" he asked.

"Nibelheim." She said.

"Hey," he smiled, the dimple appearing again. "I'm going there three days from now."

She looked at him suspiciously.

"I'm picking up my fiancée there." He finished.

She grinned. "And you'll take me?"

"I'll take ya."

"Great," she looked up at him, and smiled. "It's a deal."

* * *

**A/N:** Mostly a pointless chapter. Rather ashamed of it, actually. Only heavy part is at the beginning. The rest is pointless filler that I had to put in, because I can't have Yuffie magically leave and offer no explanation. There was actually only one actually not pointless thing. Not that I'm going to tell you what it is. ;)

Well. I updated. Sorry it took so long, but I'm updating faster than I can write. I officially have nothing written after this. Which is generally a BAD thin. I like to be at least five chapters ahead. So expect a long wait.


	8. Phantom Pain

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

Phantom Pain

_And whose beauty beats and shines not in its imperfections, but overwhelmingly in spite of them_

"Where is he?" Tifa demanded, hands gripping the bars.

Jamison looked over, bored. "He's fine."

"And Barret?"

"Not as fine."

Angrily, Tifa kicked the bars. Her orange jumpsuit was unzipped so the top part hung around her hips, exposing a white camisole. She'd always seen men in prison videos doing this, and only now she understood why. Not only to look tough and all badass, but because it got _hot_ in that suit. To keep it from falling the sleeves were wrapped around and tied together. Her knuckles were red, swollen and bloody, scabbed over because she had no gloves, and she couldn't stop herself from punching the wall. Anger and a desire to practice, to keep on top of her game made her destroy her hands, made her make her hands as red as her heart; as red as her anger and as red as the blood that ran through her veins.

Suddenly, she stuck her right fist through the bar at Jamison. He looked at the fist and then up at her. "Are you going to attempt to knock me out?" he asked in the same bored fashion.

"Touch it." She said.

This apparently wasn't what he expected.

"Touch it. Feel it."

As though expecting a trick, he hesitantly raised his hand and reached out to her fist. She leaned forward against the bars even more, as if to egg him on. He touched one of the open wounds on her knuckle. She winced slightly, but her face was set. "See that?"

"I see you have stained your knuckles red."

She nodded, stonily. There were stains from rivulets of blood that had run down her fingers hands and arms. It was almost eerie, the way he ran his finger gently along her knuckles, red, swollen and chapped. She cringed a little every time, but her jaw was set stubbornly. "Do you see that?" she whispered. "Do you feel that?"

He looked up at her, ice eyes piercing.

"I hope you do. I hope you feel that. Because these are going to be the fists that take you down. These are going to be the knuckles that beat down your empire. Because these hands, red and bloodied are going to make you pay for every ounce of blood they shed here. Because I am going to make you pay for everything you've done to us; because you'll deserve every blow I land on you, every punch I throw. So I hope you feel that, Jamison Auhn, because next time you do, it'll be on your deathday."

Jamison wrapped his hand around hers gently, and then he moved it and lifted it, and ever so lightly he bent. He bent a little and lightly brushed his lips to her bloodied, swollen knuckles. "Quite a lovely speech, Miss Lockheart."

He lowered her hand and gently uncurled his fingers from hers. "Goodbye, Miss Lockheart."

As his feet slapped against the ground, Tifa heard Cid shift in his sleep. She heard Nanaki grunt and puff a little as his nose twitched, sign of a dream or nightmare. She heard no noise from Reeve. Her jaw clenched and her teeth ground against each other. Fists clenching, she shut her eyes and took deep breaths. But it welled up inside her, red and angry and knotting, balling up inside her and getting tighter and tighter and larger and larger. Opening her eyes she raised her fists to eye level and squinted her eyes tight.

"Auuuughhhhhhhhhhh!" she screamed.

Drawing her fist back, she darted forward and her fist moved back. With all her force and might, she propelled her fist forward.

She punched the wall.

* * *

"Where is Kisaragi Yuffie?" The blurry, dark figure asked.

Barret didn't say a word. The figure switched a flick.

"Auuuugggggggggggggggg." He grunted, teeth clenched as he tried not to scream.

Volts of electricity shot through his body, making his muscles spasm and shake against the hard metal chair before the switch was flicked off and the electricity retreated. His body grew still. The figure started pacing again. Barret felt the sweat run down his face, down his arms, pooling and shimmering in the dim light.

"Where is Vincent Valentine?"

Barret looked up at the figure and glared.

The person sighed, but flicked the switch.

This was all an old dance. He'd been through it before; he was going through it again. They'd done it before, they were doing it again. They'd dance two steps forward, he'd dance two steps back. They got no where. They'd all been through it before. This was nothing different. Which is why they should now he wasn't going to say anything.

But then, as the switch flicked off, a new question. A different question. The lips smirked, and then they formed a new question.

"Where is Marlene Wallace?"

Barret glared up. "Goddamn I swear to !ing hell that if you touch a &!!ing hair on my baby's body I will-"

The switch was flicked. This time, he couldn't stop the scream.

"Where is Marlene Wallace?"

"You ain't gonna touch my little girl."

The switch turned on.

The switch turned off.

"Where is Marlene Wallace?"

"DON'T YOU HURT MY BABY GIRL!"

The man sighed and exchanged a look with the people behind the tinted glass. He moved forward, into the light shining over Barret. Barret struggled against his restraints, swearing and screaming. He looked down at Barret, disgusted. Then his hand moved up, with a nightstick-like object in it, and it came down on Barret's head, knocking him out.

The black man lay, motionless in his restraining chair.

The large man sat, and now he would scream only in his nightmares.

* * *

"So what do you say, Mr. Strife?" Jamison Auhn asked.

Eyes that had watched torture after torture moved up to Auhn, darkened, haunted. Blue eyes the color of a Fatal Error screen emptily regarded the man above him.

"I'll do it," he whispered.

"That's what I thought," Jamison smiled.

* * *

"So…" she said, looking around. "This is your place?"

"Yeah."

The bartender who'd offered Yuffie a trip to Nibelheim had turned out to be a guy named Johnnie Deliah. He'd told her to wait until he finished his shift and she did. There was something about this man that invited confidence, invited trust. She wasn't a person to accept invitations often, but she figured that she needed trust points more than anyone. So she was here, at two o'clock in the morning. And strangely enough, she couldn't find herself wanting to go to sleep.

"You sleepy?" she asked.

"Naw. I've slept all day cause of this night shift."

"Good." She grinned. "Let's get to know each other."

He looked at her. Then, he left the living room and disappeared from her line of sight. Then he returned, bearing an overlarge tee-shirt, PJ shorts and a bottle of some sort of alcohol. He grinned and put down the shotglasses and scotch, then tossed her the tee-shirt and PJ shorts. "Bathroom's that way." He motioned, and settled down on the floor. Standing up, she gathered the PJs in a bundle and went to the bathroom. Changing, she came out with her soft boots and dress in a bundle. Plopping down on a chair, she walked over to where Johnnie sat on the floor. Sitting on the floor across from him, he handed her a filled shotglass. "Can you hold your liquor…?"

"Summer."

"How is this," she asked, "going to help us get to know each other?"

"It's a game, Summer," he laughed, and there was something familiar in the way his face moved as he laughed. She narrowed her eyes at him, and again she felt that twitch of familiarity. Inspecting his face, she searched the jawbone and let her eyes pour over the nose.

"Do I…" she asked, taking a gamble, "…know you?"

He stopped laughing and looked at her. In that serious look, the familiarity was scratching at her. Like when she saw Cid light up that cigarette. But this wasn't Vincent, she knew that. And the rest were in jail.

He furrowed his brow, but then he laughed. "I'm Johnnie Deliah, we just met, remember?"

"…Oh."

"Alright. The game is called 'I never.'"

"Ohhhhhh," Yuffie said, grinning, "I've played this."

"Grossly underage as you are?"

"Hey!" she protested. "I'm twenty-two."

He raised a brow. "Really?"

"Don't I look it?"

"…yea."

"So don't be hatin'." She said.

He laughed. "'Don't be hatin'?'"

She smiled flirtatiously. "Are you making fun of me?" she teased, leaning forward and poking him in the chest.

"Maybe I am," he said, just as flirtatiously.

"Let's play, Bar Boy." She leaned back.

"Let's play."

"I go first. Hmmm…lessee…I neverrrrrr…learned how to whistle." She finished.

"You're kidding?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

"No joke." She said.

He downed the shot, and when he was done, let out a low whistle.

"Now you're just rubbing it in my face." She teased.

"Yup," he grinned. "My turn. I never…hm. I never have had a cold."

She stared. "Now _you're_ kidding, right?"

"Nope."

She downed the shot, and felt the fire trickling down her throat. "Alright. I never have been to the Gold Saucer." She said, and downed the fresh shot he'd poured. He also downed his shot.

"Not 'till I was 21."

"How sad."

"Alright. _I _never…had a one night stand."

He looked her in the eyes.

Neither drank.

"How sadly pathetic of the both of us." Yuffie sighed.

He laughed.

"Well I never had a relationship that lasted longer than three months."

He drank. "Why is that?"

She looked up from her glass. "What?"

"That you never had a long relationship."

"…I don't know."

"…what are you running from, Summer?"

"Nothing." She said, acting confused.

"Well if a girl your age and as pretty as you hasn't had a committed relationship, I have to wonder if either you were sexually abused in your life, hiding something, or running away and never stopping long enough to settle down."

She shut her eyes and shook her head. "I'm not running," she said quietly.

"Then what is it?"

She looked up. "I have intimacy issues. Anyway."

Grudgingly, he changed the subject. "Fine. Well I never cross-dressed."

She glared and drank.

He laughed, swirled his drink around and drank.

She gaped. "When?"

"I was helping out a friend."

She laughed. "Well I never…ummm…I never…" Suddenly, she turned pink.

"Hey? What were you thinking?"

She shook her head. "Notttthhhinnngg."

"Nuh-uh," he said, shaking his head. Finally, it broke into a grin. "You were thinking of something you never did that's embarrassing. Spill."

"No." she deadpanned.

"Spill. C'mon, Summer Girl."

She shook her head. "Nope."

"Fine. I'll tell you that when I dressed up, I got hit on by a man when he had two other women to chose from."

Slowly, she lifted her head and stared into his eyes. "What did you say?"

"Oh come on. Don't make me repeat it."

Looking at him sidelong, her brow furrowed. "Again…Are you sure I don't know you?"

His eyebrows knit. "Positive."

"…alright."

"Hey. Don't change the subject. What is it?"

"…no."

"Come on. I just told you the most embarassi-"

"Just quit it, okay?"

"Geez…"

"Thanks."

"…oh come on."

"Fine!" she exploded, face beet red. "I never have had sex."

Suddenly, he looked uncomfortable.

"Yeah." She snorted. "Yeah right."

Then, she took a drink.

He laughed, and drank.

"Very funny." He said, but she caught something in his eye. The laughter before had not been genuine, and there was a look of a horrid uncomfortable feeling in his eye, and a disturbed look. She narrowed her eyes, but let it pass.

"I thought so," she smiled.

"Well then. I never hitched a ride with two strangers wearing a dress barely long enough to cover my ass."

Glaring, so drank.

"Fine. If we're going to play it that way. _I_ never offered to take a stranger wearing a dress that barely covers her ass to a place I happen to be going, even if I don't know if this girl is saint or sinner."

Rolling his eyes, he drank. "I don't think you're a sinner, Summer."

She looked up under her lashes at him. "Well," she said, and downed the shot even when she didn't need to, "I'm no saint."

* * *

Tifa sighed, running fingers through her hair. Without warning, she charged the wall and started kicking and punching it. "Goddamnit!" she yelled.

"Goddamn Teef, take a &!&!ing chill pill."

Tifa turned and rounded on Cid, pressing herself against the bars of her cell. Her eyes turned venomous and her hands gripped the bars. All at once the poison left her eyes and she relaxed, shutting her eyes and resting her forehead against the bars. "I'm sorry Cid," she sighed. "But…we haven't seen Cloud since Auhn took him away."

"Yeah? So?" Cid grunted, still freshly awake.

"Cid…" she sighed, exasperated, upset. "…That was three months ago."

* * *

He'd been searching for months now, all the time maintaining that if they didn't want to be found, they wouldn't. His acceptance had been more of a selfish move than anything. Hell, everything he did, down to saving the world was downright selfish. He knew all along that, even trying, he wouldn't find Yuffie and he wouldn't find Vincent.

But then, Auhn or one of the mysterious 'associates' had told them they had a contact. They had a source that could tip them off. So he'd gone, and he waited. And as he waited, he hated himself. He couldn't believe what he was doing. He was a coward. He was a traitor. He was a Judas.

He'd tried to back out. But just as with Judas, it was too late. There was no backing out now. Since he'd accepted, they were now holding his friends against him. Threats plagued him in his sleeps, horribly detailed threats that left him tossing and turning. But he couldn't get over himself.

He was Judas, and he was sorry.

But it was a sorry Judas who'd committed suicide.

It was a sorry Judas that hung himself.

* * *

"Ready to go, Summer?" he smiled, heaving a suitcase up. Hauling it into the trunk of the black SUV, 'Summer' gave him another suitcase. Finally she put her own duffel bag into the front passenger seat, where she would be. Climbing in, she wore the dress she had that first day and black boots, but this time soft ones with no heel. He'd wanted to give her clothes, but she made him wash the two outfits she had, saying she'd take no charity. One of those outfits was a red bathing suit, but she'd told him he'd just have to deal with her walking around in one. 'Summer' was stubborn and witty and flirtatious, but he would just chuckle. It was a game they played, since none of them could forget the fiancée that was featured with him in pictures all around the house. Not that either of them wanted to.

Summer, however, was gaping. "You have a _car?_"

'Car' was another word for buggy, mostly because they were more attractive than buggies. But most people didn't bother with cars, preferring chocobos. Plus, they were extremely expensive. Hell, most people who owned buggies or cars lived around the desert or in rough terrain. Or the government.

He laughed. "I have a rich family. I have one – they have six."

She gaped.

"So, you ready?"

She shook her head, as if freeing herself from shock. "All set, Bar Boy." She smiled.

'Bar Boy,' or Johnnie, grinned his one dimple grin and climbed into the drivers seat. She set out the snack food and with a key in the ignition they were ready to go.

Three days after the night in the bar, Johnnie was taking her to Nibelheim. It was a non-stop drive, and she'd offered to take shifts with him. He hadn't seemed so eager. They were leaving from a small town between Costa de Sol and North Corel that had sprung up after Meteor. It was called Hadburga, and he'd told her it meant 'safe from the battle.' Made after Meteor and Midgar, she wasn't surprised why they had chosen that name.

They sat in silence for about a half hour, watching the scenery go by.

"So where are you from, Summer?"

"Kalm." She said. In the past couple days, he'd wanted to 'save some conversation for the car ride.' "The most boring town on the Planet."

He laughed. "Why'd you leave?"

She sighed. "As I said: most boring town on the Planet. Left when I was fifteen."

"Where'd you go?"

"Midgar. And how about you? Where're you from?"

"Rocket Town, born and raised."

"Really?" she said. "I have a buddy who lives over there."

Mentally she smacked herself, but outwardly made no sign. It wouldn't be smart. The words had spilled out before she could stop herself. Now she just looked over at him.

"Really?" he asked. "Who?"

She pulled a name out of her mind from the times she'd been there. "James Hadberry. Owner of the Inn."

He looked up. "No kidding? He used to watch me and some of the kids around town…yeah...some of the kids I grew up with. Quite the characters."

Yuffie looked over and tilted her head. "Like who?"

"You'll never believe me." He said, and laughed. He laughed a lot.

"Believe what?" she teased.

"Well." He said, as if making a great announcement. "I grew up with," he paused for dramatic effect, "Cid Highwind."

She felt her heart constrict in her chest. "Oh my gosh, you're kidding?"

"Naw," he looked over. "We were best friends. Grew up together, friends until I left Rocket Town to come to Costa de Sol." He over pronounced the 'de' in Costa de Sol, making it sound like Costa Dee Sol. It was kinda cute, his accent, a minor version of Cid's. It had been beaten out of him, she guessed, from the years outside of Rocket Town.

"Shame what happened." She said. She picked those words because it could go either way; she didn't know if he was a sympathizer or a condemner.

"Yea." His face darkened. "I would've never believed he turned out to be such scum," he spat out the last word.

"I was there, you know." She said. "In Midgar, when they all came back. We greeted them…we greeted them like heroes." Her face tightened, jaw clenching. "Then it turned out…what they did…"

"Yea. I'm sure you do know it firsthand." He said.

She looked over. He kept his gaze straight ahead on the road. In that tone, it made her heart pound. "Excuse me?"

"You ain't fooling anyone, sweetheart." He said, and made a sharp turn off the main dirt path.

Her eyes turned startled. "Hey! Hey, this isn't going to Nib…" she looked over. Suddenly, it all spilled together, like a puzzle she'd been looking at the wrong way. "…we never were going to Nibelheim." She said flatly.

"…You knew. The whole time."

"I know you, Yuff." The accent disappeared.

She was quiet. "I had hoped this wasn't the reason you were out, Cloud." She said quietly.

It was his turn to be surprised. "You _knew?"_ he asked.

"Cloud. If you could identify me…well…"

He shook his head. "Right. Well. I've been chasing you for the past three months."

"…but…how?"

"Cloud." She said. "Goddamnit, what are you doing?"

"…Yuffie." He said, and looked over. "…If I give them you…If I give you to them…they'll let two others go. Or one. I'm not sure."

She stared. "Cloud." She said. "Cloud, don't do this."

"Yuff…"

"What makes you think they'll keep their word? Huh? God Cloud, don't DO this. God, they've lied about everything else. Cloud." Her voice was a warning tone, even but forceful. She would not cry. "Cloud. Stop this. Cloud."

"Just go along Yuff. Please. I'll explain later. But I need you there…I'll get you free. I won't leave you there."

"Cloud, _don't do this."_ she warned, face set seriously.

"Yuff…this is…it's hard enough." His eyes were pained. "Just trust me-"

"_Trust you?!_ You sold your soul to the Devil Cloud! Why the hell should I believe you? Tell me." She asked, but he did not respond. "TELL ME!"she screeched.

"…Come on Yuff. I have a plan…this just…It all fits into the master plan. Just follow along, alright?"

"No." she said dully but forcefully. "You've sold your soul Cloud. And I'm not going down with-"

"You'll be with them." He said abruptly.

Boy, did Cloud know how to make his words count. Straight to the heart. She felt her heart sending out blood and bringing it in, and she wondered how if she could feel it, why no one else knew it was bleeding.

"…what?" she whispered.

"We were all together. Cells all in the same room, windows so you could talk to the people next to you. I could touch them. Tifa. Reeve. I saw them." He laughed. "Last time I was there, Reeve drew Leviathan sprawling up his arm."

"…for patience in rough waters, and the ability to part around obstacles. For the ability to slowly wear down on anything, slowly destroy anything. For a tough exterior and clear mind. Clear senses and a clear path." She laughed. "And I'm sure he thinks it looks cool."

There was a longing in her eyes and voice that was impossible to miss. "Come on Yuff…I'm Cloud. I won't let you rot there. I have a plan. I swear…swear to god…Yuff…Just go along with it. That's all you have to do. Think that I cooperated with them. They'll let me and one other go-"

He was getting her until there. "Oh." She interrupted. "It's like that."

"Yuff…" he pleaded.

"I see. They'll let you go. It isn't about the others, or some master plan."

"Yuff, it is, but it's necessary…"

"You're a selfish bastard Cloud. You know that?!"

"Yuff-"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT." She finally cried, tears spilling down her face as she pressed lips together, hatred forming on her face, born from rage and betrayal. Her eyes turned spiteful and poisonous as she looked over at him. Her lips pressed together as she shook her head. "_You're no friend of mine_."

His face froze. She couldn't have hit him harder if she'd stabbed him in the chest with a stake. His hands turned white on the steering wheel, and in that moment of vulnerability, she saw her chance.

Lunging over, she grabbed the steering wheel with two hands. Cloud shouted in protest, but she yanked it hard to the right, sending tires screeching and mouths screaming. Cloud slammed on the brakes as the car screeched off the barely worn dirt path and, before they could do a thing, slammed head on into a tree.

In the dead of night, on a car-less road, a black SUV crashed into a tree.

Inside, no one moved.

* * *

He'd seen her today.

He was sure of it.

Who else had those eyes? Intense, swirling like storms even when they were at their most innocent pearl grey. Blonde, different face – he probably wouldn't have even noticed her if she hadn't fell. But when she'd looked at his face like that, and he'd seen those eyes – he knew. Those eyes; stormy, calculating, quick.

It was her.

That, in short, was why he left.

Leaning back against the crates on the boat, he sighed heavily, running fingers through short hair. It wasn't a gesture like him, but nothing about him was 'like him.' Tilting his head back, he shut his eyes.

It was her, he'd seen.

He was sure of it.

And that, in short, was what terrified him.

* * *

Barret massaged his stump of an arm, and groaned. Cid looked over from the cell next to him. The others had fallen asleep – Tifa in tears, nursing stinging knuckles. Nanaki exhaled through his nose, sending red hair bristling like grass in a windy meadow. Reeve had stared at the bars and around the cell for a good hour before he climbed onto the rock-like mattress.

"Damnit," he grumbled. "Itches."

He rubbed the stump some more.

Cid looked over with grim understanding. "Phantom pain?" he asked.

"Yea," Barret grunted.

"Yea," Cid said distantly, looking sadly at the three empty cells in the room. "…I know what you mean."

* * *

She awoke with a groan, and blinked rapidly. She was being pushed on, and blinking her eyes open she found a big white bag pushing up against her chest. Grappling with it groggily, she managed to push it aside and forward enough for it to be out of the way. Her eyes shifted in and out of focus, and she blinked rapidly. A sticky film pooled on the top right of her forehead, and she felt it trickle down the side of her face. Her hands fumbled for getting a purchase on the dashboard, and arms like overcooked noodles fought to hold her up. When she had caught some breath, she reached behind her and fumbled for her duffel bag that had been tossed around when the car crashed. Fingers that could barely wiggle managed to weakly wrap around the strap and pull it forward. Swaying slightly, she scrabbled for the handle at the door. The world swam in front of her eyes, and she managed to pull the handle on the door. It swung open, and she made to get out. Jerked back, she laughed weakly and weakly hit her hand against the seatbelt buckle. When it didn't release, she hit it with the heel of her hand. Frustration welling in her, she hit it harder with the heel of her hand. The belt slithered up and she lurched out of the car, landing on all fours.

Nose an inch from the dirt, she breathed deeply a couple times before her arms collapsed from under her. Falling flat, the side of her face pushed into the dust and dirt. The wound on her head stung as dust tangled with blood. Her lower lip and chin quavered, and after laying there for five, ten, fifteen minutes, she pushed herself up. Rising to her knees, she shook as she stood up. Legs wobbling like an infant taking first steps, she stumbled forwards. Taking a deep breath, she put step after step, legs getting only slightly stronger as she staggered along the road, feet lost in the darkness.

Step after step, she staggered along the road to Nibelheim.

It wasn't until she reached the curve of the road that she thought to look back for Cloud.

* * *

He was terrified of seeing her, and he hadn't felt that emotion since he saw Lucrecia dying on that cold birthing table, surrounded by bloody washrags and instruments.

It scared him, being scared. He found it almost ironic that he most feared fear itself.

But he was terrified of seeing her, and that's how he knew something was wrong.

He was scared.

* * *

They were missing, and it was like Barret's missing limb.

* * *

She nursed her bloody knuckles as she sobbed herself to sleep.

* * *

Alone on the dark road, she looked back, to see him still in the car, limply hanging forward.

She kept walking.

* * *

He was a sorry Judas, but someone else had strung his noose.

* * *

He was scared.

* * *

They all felt the phantom pain.

* * *

Her knuckles were bloody.

* * *

He was a sorry Judas.

* * *

She kept on walking.

**

* * *

**

**A/N:** Alright. This is an overwhelmingly confusing chapter, at least I think so. Of course I understand it, but it might be very confusing. So here's the breakdown of the confustion:

Fifth Section- Tifa and Cid: WHOO DOGGIE. Okay, remember what happened in the first part of this chapter? And remember what was all happenign with Yuffie? Well, get this: everything you've seen with the prisoners was three months ago, up until this point. Everything you've seen with Yuffie, however, is happening at the same time as this. Confusing?

Yes.

About the Title: This was a toughy. I wanted to call it Bloody Knuckles, because of the game and I just like it, but Phantom Pain related better. But there will be a Bloody Knuckles chapter, you just wait. Anyway, about Phantom Pain: referring to the little snippet with Cid and Barret, it refers to Cloud popping up to take Yuffie back, causing her and him pain. Refers to everyone missing their teammates, whether in teh cell or not. Refers to Vincent feeling old friendship cares striking up again after he tried to hard to block it all out, refers to him finally seeing one of his friends up close, and vice versa for Yuffie. Get it?

Oh, another thing!

About Johnnie Deliah: Honestly, I can't find a good excuse for Johnnie. It just called to me, the strawlike hair color, the bartender, the him. But the last name I chose specifically. Deliah, pronounced 'Deal-E-Ah' is what I made 'Delilah' into, for fear of being too obvious. Some of you may know the story of Samson and Delilah, but some of you may not. Samson was abnormally strong, like Hercules, and he had never cut his hair. God had told him never to (don't get all hot and bothered, non-religious people) cut his hair, or his strength would be gone. He fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who the Philistines bribed once they found out Samson's strength came from his hair. Delilah betrayed Samson and cut his hair in his sleep, so the Philistines could capture him. She's one of the most famous traitors, besides people like Benidict Arnold. I did consider Arnold as a name instead of Johnnie, but I didn't like it. At all. I figured I'd be making too many references. So I went with Deliah.

Vincent scared? ohmygawsh.

Cloud dead? ohmygawsh. -hides from angry Cloud fans-

Cid showing emotion? And Barret to boot? ohmygawsh.

Yuffie killing Cloud? ohmygawsh.

Cloud being a traitor? ohmygawsh.

By the way, I do not hate Cloud, so do not accuse me of it.

I take back any prevoius times I said this: This is, Officially, the Longest Author's Note Ever. As of Late, at least. If you are confused, even if you have nothing else to say, just 'confused' drop a comment. I want to know how many actually got it.

**.K.i.t.K.a.t.**


	9. Intentions

**Chapter Eight**

Intentions

_Under the wind-rent clouds_

"Mister Auhn." A deep voice said from the door of the office.

" Elizabeth didn't buzz any-" Jamison looked up.

A stoic man stood in the doorway. He was tall and bald, with an impeccably pressed suit, sunglasses and deep olive skin. He did not take off his sunglasses. Taking two strides forward, and slowly inclined his head, ever so tiny. Jamison was rigid as he saw the man, who lifted his head and stood still. He seemed to be waiting for some sort of signal.

"Yes?" Jamison said stiffly.

"…I know what you did." He said, in that deep voice of his.

"I've done many things."

"…I know you sent someone to do your dirty work. And I know you have someone reporting to you."

"And how do you know all this, Mister Rude?"

Rude's lips couldn't be, metaphorically, any more sealed. Jamison sighed and stamped a paper, a request to be allowed to announce to the public that they were pulling up ruins of a Shinra file room from underground.

"I know, because I found him."

Jamison froze. The pen that was writing stopped midsignature, and his hand hovered over the paper tentatively.

"In an SUV you provided him. Crashed against a tree."

Jamison's lips pressed together. "And what does this have to do with you?"

"…I found pieces of clothing that…that he would not wear."

Jamison raised an eyebrow.

Rude pulled it out of his pocket. It was a bathing suit top. Rude tossed it onto Jamison's desk.

"…I believe he succeeded." Rude said. "I believe he found her."

Jamison stared. "So where is he now?"

"Not so chatty now." Jamison remarked.

"I just came to let you know he did what you told him to do."

"Why?" Jamison said sharply.

"Because you're not getting him back."

"…it's war then." Jamison said quietly.

Rude said nothing.

He turned on his heel and strode away.

* * *

The world swam in front of his eyes as he came to. He blinked, and the world began to settle. Disoriented though he was, he scrabbled for his weapon. When he found it was no where near, his heart began to pound. Without his weapon he felt naked; helpless. It took him a while until he realized what he was lying on slightly gave to his weight, though wasn't soft. He ran his fingers over the springs and the frame – he was lying on a cot.

"…Are you alright?" a deep voice asked.

Startled, Cloud jumped and looked up bewilderedly to see an olive-skinned face swim in and out of focus. The sunglasses were ever present, and that, more than the bald head or goatee made him realize who stood above him.

"Rude." He stated.

Rude nodded.

"…Where am I?"

Rude motioned around him. "You are safe." That was all he offered.

"Yuffie." He said suddenly. "She…she…"

"She is fine."

"Was she…did she…?"

"She was not there when I found you."

Cloud remembered the crash. He remembered the tree coming closer and closer until it hit the SUV, the front of the powerful vehicle crumpling on impact, squashing up like an accordion. He could still recall blacking out as his chest met the airbag, as the windshield broke and send shards of glass into his forehead. And now he remembered coming to, only to hear a door opening and a pair of arms hauling him out of the seat and slinging him over a shoulder. He remembered the sound of gasoline pouring, and a match being struck. And he remembered being carried from the flames, feeling the heat and groggily seeing the flames lick the black SUV. He remembered hearing a distant explosion, and he remembered being hauled onto a surface that had loud blades that beat at the ari.

"How…how did you know I was…?"

"Oh. You aren't talking."

"…Why?" he asked.

Cloud looked at him, and at the look on his face it all came to him at once. Guilt hit him like a ShinRa truck, and he knew what Palmer must have felt in Rocket Town after they defeated him in battle. He felt as dirty and as greasy as Palmer as well, sipping lard-ridden tea. "Don't…" Cloud said, shaking his head. "Don't you judge me."

Rude was silent, and stared at him for a few more moments before he strode off.

"Don't you judge me." He said to thin air.

* * *

The wind bit at her, pulling at her clothes and hair as she trudged through the cold mountain snow. Shivering and shaking, she lifted foot after foot out of the snow. It drifted down onto her blonde hair and melted on her fair-skinned face. She pulled her scarf tighter around her face, huddling into her puffy light blue jacket. She tugged at the reins of her blue chocobo, who was all but useless on these mountains. Luckily, she was approaching a small town that had sprung up after Meteor. Many of these small towns had appeared, because Midgar had been huge and when so many evacuated, they needed somewhere to go. This one was called Snowy Shores, and was just a little ways into the snowy part of the Northern Continent, the first town after Bone Village. It was known for its chocobos, which had come about because of the need for transportation in such snowy, mountainous terrain. The person who started the trade had apparently gotten trained by the Chocobo Sage himself. Elena heard they were relatives of Chocobo Billy himself.

As she trudged into town, she pulled along her chocobo as no one gave her a second glance. They were used to visitors – this was a place many people passed through. Now, she walked up the street with its only thin coating of snow and went up to a villager. "Excuse me," she said, and the woman turned from her conversation with the other woman. The woman looked at her and waited.

"Um, do you know where I could find the chocobo rental?"

The woman smiled. "Just that way," she said, and pointed down the street, leaning to look with Elena.

Elena said thanks and the woman smiled, and Elena kept walking down the street, very much aware that the woman was still watching her. Blonde she might be, but she was also a Turk. So she watched the woman in peripheral vision as she turned to the large chocobo building – it was the main business of the town. She walked through the barnlike doors with her chocobo (they were used to getting chocobos around here) and was greeted by two children.

"Hello," the girl beamed. "How can we help you?"

Feeling slightly ridiculous talking to two children, she shrugged. "I need a chocobo."

The girl nodded. "Would you like to board yours?"

Elena nodded.

"And what kind would you like?" the boy asked.

"Um, black, preferably."

The girl beamed again. "Your lucky day. We have one left."

The boy led Elena's chocobo away with soothing words, and coaxed it out of the room to where they kept the boarding chocobos. The girl led a black chocobo back, petting the side of the head and muttering soothing words. The black turned bright, light blue eyes to Elena and Elena met it with her own eyes.

"His name is Blur." The girl said. "He's fast, and not to mention that's what 'blue' sounds like in some different language."

Elena smiled and took the reigns. The little boy came back, an older man with light brown hair following him. The man smiled and shook Elena's hand, introducing himself as Parker before he handed Elena a couple papers. "We need you to sign these. One's an insurance policy, says we aren't responsible for any injuries you might sustain on or relating to this chocobo. The other is more of a promise." He smiled, the grin slightly higher on one side. "Says you won't hurt our chocobo, and you will pay a fee. Also says you will return it in the time you promised, with a two day grace period. After that, if you don't contact us, you will have a fee for each two days late. The third is a receipt, a proof that you rented out one of our chocobos and which one. You will provide this paper when you come back."

Elena smiled and absently petted the chocobos.

"Right this way is a desk so you can read over them more thoroughly."

The boy and girl scampered off and Elena followed Parker. "Now would you like to use your own bridle and saddle or should we provide one?"

"Mine, please."

"I would recommend staying a day. This is the beginning of a storm passing through. Should be gone by morning."

Elena smiled. "Thank you."

He pulled out the chair as she sat down, and she went over the papers meticulously. He looked down at her, never rushing her, but finally pulling up a chair and sitting down. He turned the chair around and sat with it backwards, leaning forward onto the back of the chair. Quirking a brow, he looked over her shoulder, and she pretended not to mind. Normally, she would have snapped at Reno or whoever was trying to read over her shoulder, and glare at them. Now, she just let herself hide the welling annoyance.

"Well I'm impressed," he said finally, as she finished the papers and looked over them again for anything she missed. "Most people glance and think they have the gist of it."

She smiled slightly, not looking up. "I'm thorough," she said.

He laughed. "No. Thorough is looking at each paper. You're crazy meticulous."

She laughed, though she was falling quickly into a fake persona. "Am I now?"

"Oh yes," he said, and she found herself liking him. "You're the white-glove-test checking, dust every inch before you vacuum, obsessive compulsive type."

"Obsessive compulsive?" she said, feigning offense. "Most girls would take that as an insult you know."

"Forgive me." He said, in a tone that he knew she was faking.

Finally she picked up the pen and signed, a fake signature that was slow and full of loops and flourishes. It matched the personality he was forming for her, and he grinned slowly. Shaking his head, she took care to straighten the pile as she handed it to him, fitting the persona he'd created for her. Just to tease her, he looked through it slowly. "Alright."

She took out the money and counted it into his hand, smiling and meeting his eyes. "You know any good hotels?"

"Sure. The Igloo Inn." He smiled.

"So you're the infamous one who started up this business?"

He paused and then he shook his head. "Want to know a secret?"

Her eyes squinted slightly and she nodded slowly.

"It's her. The little girl, mostly, some the little boy."

She stared.

"That hero boy, Cloud, would come back to her even during his journey to save the world, go to the out of the way ranch just to tell her what the Chocobo Sage said. She pooled it all together and she and the little boy started this business via Bill via me."

"…you're kidding."

He shook his head. "That boy is great at math, and while they're both good with chocobos, the girl is the best." He laughed. "I just 'run' it. It's them through me."

"That's just so crazy I have to believe it." She looked at him sidelong. "What about that Cloud though?"

The man was hesitant. "What about him?"

"If Cloud or one of them came in and wanted to rent a chocobo, would you give them one?"

"…yes." He said hesitantly.

She feigned confusion. "But it says in your policy that you don't rent out to criminals."

The man looked down, and was silent for a few moments. "You aren't quite as meticulous as I thought then," he said quietly. "It says I don't rent out to people who've actually done something wrong."

They were both quiet. "So we have the same view then?" she said softly.

"I guess so," he said just as quietly.

"…And if someone came asking," she said, "would you tell them what you did?"

He stopped. "Are you trying to tell me something?"

"Not in the way you think." She said. "I'm not Vampire Boy or Wutai Rose."

He nodded. "I believe you. But you still don't want anyone to know what…" he looked at the signature on his paper said. For all its loops and flourishes, it was illegible. "…what the girl who came in wanting a black chocobo looked like."

She locked her eyes with his and nodded slowly.

"…I can do that," he said.

She smiled. "Thank you." Then she tucked the papers away. "Igloo Inn you said?"

"Igloo Inn."

"Great. Hold Blur for me?"

"Absolutely."

She smiled. "Thanks."

"…just be clear, the minute someone comes in that door looking for you, I'll have never met you in my life. You can't come back in this building. Give the chocobo to one of the villagers to return."

She nodded.

"And Miss…?"

"Smith."

"Of course. Miss Smith…who are you looking for?"

She looked at him sharply. "…how did you know?"

His eyes darkened. "I've…I know the look of someone whose searching for something lost."

She bit her bottom lip and strode out the door.

"And Miss Smith?" the voice came, and she stopped, staring straight ahead, not back. "I hope you find what you're looking for."

"…I will." She said, and then her jaw set in determination. "I will."

She walked out into the snow, and let the door slam shut behind her. The wind bit at her face and the snow froze any tears that would have come down her face.

* * *

She'd been walking for days now, and her water supply had run out two days back. Tired and wan in appearance, dust and dirt stuck to her face and skin, tangling her hair and ruining her dress. The lights of Nibelheim had appeared a while ago, and it was all that kept her going. When the sounds of her soft boots turned from padding on grass and dirt to smacking on cobblestone, she gave a weary and delirious smile. Swaying in her spot, she looked around the town of Nibelheim.

"I'm here." She croaked, and collapsed.

* * *

The next morning, she blinked her eyes open to the feeling of water trickling town her throat and dribbling down her chin. Eyes sifting in and out of focus, she finally fixed them on a pair of brown shoes. Confused, her eyes moved to the corners to look up, and she saw a sideways man frowning as he poured water into her mouth. When he saw her eyes were open, he motioned to some people and said something that – to her – was intelligible. It was then she realized there were a couple kids peering down at her.. She tried to push herself up with weary arms, but, weak as noodles they collapsed from under her.

"What's your name?" the brown haired man with the water asked.

She squinted in confusion.

"Your name?" he said loudly and slowly, as though she didn't speak Common.

"Autumn," she murmured.

"Well Autumn," he said, and scooped her up. "We're going to take care of you."

He carried her out of the square and into a house, where he put her down on a bed. He left the room and she caught the distant notes of conversation between a man and a woman, before the soft steps of a woman entered. Yuffie groaned, and the woman helped her sit up, and then murmured soothing words as she helped Yuffie drink. Yuffie looked at her for the first time, and nearly jumped.

She wore an apron, and hair that was a blonde just lighter than a chocobo's feathers was swept up with a clip. Her face was full of youth, only betrayed by laugh lines around her eyes. She wore a blue dress that went down to cover her knees, and stood in a way that said she was only barely a housewife, brimming with excitement. "And you are…?"

"Autumn." Yuffie croaked, and drank again. She cleared her throat. "Autumn Jones."

"Well I'm Skye." Her smile twitched downwards into a line, her face filling with concentration. "Do I…know you?"

"I don't think so." Yuffie said. "I've never been to Nibelheim before…"

"Oh." She said quietly. "My mistake." She smiled again. "Well, welcome. If there's anything I can do for you, just let me know."

"Thank you." Yuffie nodded. Skye smiled and left.

"Wait!" Yuffie called, though it came out scratchy and dry. Skye looked over her shoulder. "What's your last name?"

Skye smiled again, pink lips twisting upwards.

"Strife." She said. "Skye Strife."

* * *

"So where am I again?" Cloud asked when Rude returned.

"You are here." He said. Cloud fought the urge to glare. "Hold still."

Cloud had spent the time he was awake wincing in pain as he tentatively touched his forehead. There was a bump that he winced at touching on the left side of his forehead. It throbbed, giving him the most agonizing headache he'd ever had, and was tender to the touch. He had a slice on his cheek that was covered by a rectangular bandage, taped in place. But what distracted Cloud from this was what Rude was holding: a C shaped needle and black thread. Cloud backed up.

"Hey…wh-…wait!"

Rude gently forced him down, and kept him down as he threaded the needle. He swabbed Cloud's right cheek, where there was a nasty cut, and Cloud hissed as alcohol stung against the cleaned cut. Rude looked at him. "Hold still." He said. "This will hurt."

Without another warning, he brought the needle to the cut and plunged it in while Cloud bit his tongue. Teeth clenched, he waited as he felt every stab of pain, waited as he felt the thread moving through his skin. Rude was quick and efficient, but it seemed like forever before he cut the string and tied off the stitches. He held up a mirror for Cloud.

They were good stitches. Now, Cloud got the first look at his face. It wasn't pretty.

He was pale and gaunt, from months of minimal food in prison. His cheekbones looked hollow, and the shadows playing across his fade made him feel like a corpse. He had bags under his eyes that were vividly dark. He hissed as he saw the bump on his forehead. Just like half of a baseball was sticking off the left side of his forehead, it swelled and glared out from his face. Spider veins crept up and away from it, and it was a nasty combination of red and purple. He winced just looking at it.

But his eyes were a fearful sight. They were dark and sunken, the fatal error blue glowing out from the dark hollows. What's more they were grim and dark, haunted with what he'd seen the world come to, haunted with what had happened to them. But a sheen over them made him realize they were watery with tears, because in his eyes he saw pain, woe, strife but above all, guilt. Nasty guilt, like a shot to the heart.

"I wasn't going to turn her in, you know." He said quietly.

Rude made no acknowledgement that he had heard, but shifted through his medical supplies to put a bandage over Cloud's stitched up cheek. So Cloud kept talking.

"I was going to fake her death. Maybe both of ours, I hadn't decided. I couldn't tell her…I couldn't tell her because it was their car. It was wired. They knew that, even after they wired me, I wouldn't stand for it, so they wired everything around me. She didn't get the hints." Rude was putting some sort of gel on the bump, and Cloud winced. "So she grabbed the wheel, and she crashed the car."

He clamped his teeth down as Rude finished with the gel.

"But now she thinks…how could she possibly believe I had sunk so low?"

The silence crackled through the warehouse-like place, and Rude shut the medical bag.

Finally, Rude spoke. "In these times…in these times where you worship your destroyers and hate your heroes…it isn't such a stretch to believe your friends have turned into your enemies."

It was the most amount of words Cloud had ever heard Rude say at once. Maybe even more than all the words he'd heard Rude say combined.

Cloud shook his head, and put down the mirror. "Never."

"It is a mad world."

"Maybe. But if you can't count on your friends in a crazy world, who can you trust?"

Rude was silent as he stood, the only noise coming from the click of an automatic being loaded.

"Nobody." He said.

* * *

**A/N: **New chapter! I lost my voice - layrngitis, apparently, or however you spell it. Bah. I came home from school early. Bah humbug, I tell you. It sucks. I hate not having a voice - all scratchy and whispery and barely there.

Watching Pirates of the Caribbean 2, just finished Planes Trains and Automoblies. Ohh, mad skills there Will. Sorry.

Short Chapter, I know, but it had to end here. It just had to. Trust me. Nothing much more to say except 'OHEMMGEECLOUD'SMOMALIVE?!' Ha.

So I lied. Cloud's alive. Aw, you tricky rascals knew.

I would list all my AMAZING people who reviewed, but I feel so crummy...

About the Title: Mostly about Cloud's intentions on capturing Yuffie, but will also refer to a humorous thing involving Rude and Cloud, and yet another serious thing with Yuffie and Skye Strife.


	10. Rewards

**Chapter Nine**

Rewards

_upstream and down_

Annie Dillard

They led Tifa back into the white cell room, hands held behind her as she walked forlornly into the room. The guards shoved her back into her cell, and she allowed herself to fall to the floor. She laid there in a crumpled heap, not moving. She didn't move even after they left the room.

"Teef?" Cid asked.

"…Teef?" Barret said.

She stirred. Sitting up, she leaned against the wall. Her face was shiny with sweat, but there were clear tear marks down it. Her hair stuck to her face and neck, hanging limply in front of one eye. Her hands rested dejectedly in her lap, one cradling the other. Since the vertical bars went across the whole room, they could see her. And they could see as she rose her hands and she looked over at them. One burgundy eye stared out at them, the other hidden by a curtain of hair.

Her hands were bloody. Her fingernails were broken and battered, broken past the quick. There were cuts all over them, and they were bloody and scarred. One of the fingers may have even been broken. As broken as her face, broken as her spirit. This was nothing new – they just pretended not to notice as the others came back from torture. Not because they were bad friends, or because they wanted to pretend it didn't happen, but for their friend's sake. For pride's sake.

"Teef…" Reeve said.

"…they asked me something different this time." She said quietly.

No one said a word.

"They asked me where the Turks were. They asked me where Marlene was." Tifa shook her head. "And I told them that I couldn't possibly know, since I'd been in here. So this is what happened."

They gave up torture after a while. They accepted that if you wouldn't speak after so many times, you probably didn't know. So they just interrogated. Not just asking, they would ask for random bits of the trip. And if they didn't cooperate, they hurt them. But it had been a while since any of them had been brought back bloody.

"Tifa…they won't get away with this." Nanaki said.

Tifa looked up, and her chin quivered. "Yes they will…" she said quietly.

"Teef, don't you talk like tha'." Barret warned.

"Face it!" she exploded. "Yuffie and Vincent are going to have a hard enough time keeping hidden without bursting into Auhncore headquarters for us. I mean, I don't even know how much Vincent actually _cared_ about us! I mean, I thought…I did…but…but I could be wrong." She frowned. "God knows it wouldn't be the first time."

"Come on Teef." Reeve pleaded. "They're coming. …and they're okay."

Tifa looked over, and shook her head slowly. "You know…I really do want to believe that Reeve…"

The men looked at each other desperately. Tifa was their rock. They were floating, helpless, only her to hold them steady.

"I want to believe they're okay…" she said, and her eyes were laced with pain and they could see her heart breaking in her chest. "But I can't."

* * *

Wutai, or rather, the Auhncore guards at the gate of Wutai, padded him down thoroughly before letting him into the city. He didn't bother with a disguise – he wasn't wearing the trademark suit, he had one eye covered and no one expected him to be alive. Stepping into Wutai, his eyes swept over the city. There were guards all over the city, keeping wary eyes open on all the alike Wutain faces. How they thought they'd spot Kisaragi was anyone's guess.

So Rufus walked confidently through the streets, as though he had a reason to be there. Not that he didn't. But he did not avoid the guard's gaze, nor did he make direct eye contact with every one of them. He did meet one's eyes and gave a polite nod. The guard looked him up and down and decided he was worth ignoring. So Rufus kept walking until he got to the Kisaragi palace, near the pagoda. Striding up to the door, he knocked.

"Over here." A calm voice called, and Rufus turned to see Godo Kisaragi at the door of the pagoda. Wearily he brushed off the Auhncore guards and walked over, and led the way into his house. Rufus followed, not waiting for an invitation. When Godo settled in a room and motioned for him to sit down, he sat.

"Why are you here, Rufus?" he asked wearily.

"I'm surprised that is your first question for me." Rufus said.

Godo shrugged, tired. "This world has turned to a point where you showing up is one of the more believable things that has happened."

Rufus couldn't fight that logic.

"I assume you somehow managed to survive the blast, and you have been recovering with help from your loyal lapdogs."

Rufus chuckled. "Yes."

"See." Godo said, grim. "That isn't so complicated."

"No." Rufus said. "I suppose not."

Godo sipped his tea. "So you are here."

"Yes." Rufus said. "I am."

Then Godo pushed a pad of paper across the table. It read 'We Will Not Talk Here.'

Godo stood and placed his tea down, and walked out. Rufus followed, only to find Godo had disappeared. When he looked around, a tapestry on the wall caught his eye. Walking forward, he made to lift it off the wall. But it didn't move. So he looked closely at the tapestry.

It depicted nine people of all shapes and sizes. They were the heroes of the world. There was Cloud, spiky haired and blonde as ever. There was Aeris, ethereal as always. Tifa, gorgeous and tough. Vincent, dark and mysterious. Cid, brash and looking off to the side, cigarette in his mouth. Barret, bearlike and tough. Cait Sith, goofy looking on so serious a tapestry, with Reeve depicted behind him. Nanaki, gold eye capturing the eye of the leader, head lowered. Finally there was Yuffie. He was grateful they had not put her in a kimono, but with her unbuttoned shorts, short-shirt, bandanna and overlarge shuriken. They were there, all nine of them. Following the tapestry, it depicted Sephiroth, cold, cruel and threatening as ever. Behind him, a grotesque shadow, was Jenova. Following it, it showed the story of Meteor, of the Calamity from the Skies. The black materia, Shinra, the Turks and the death of Aeris. Finally, it showed the final battle and Holy coming, and the Lifestream creeping up to save the world.

At the bottom, it mirrored the top, and depicted the heroes again. Except this time, Aeris was separate from them all. Her stomach was bloody and her face pale and shadowed with death. The rest were together, but they were not clean as they were at the top. They were dirty and scraped, wounded and forlorn. But they were together, and their eyes shone with victory.

"A very beautiful tapestry," Rufus said.

He expected Godo to answer from somewhere behind him, but instead, the wall began to move. The tapestry and wall lifted to reveal a hole in the wall. Rufus climbed into it, and heard it shut behind him, leaving him in darkness. However, as soon as it shut, candles lit up. Walking over, he inspected one. "Hm." He said.

Godo was no where in sight, so Rufus walked.

As he walked, the straight passage that required him to hunch opened. As he walked out, the space opened up. He found himself in a maze of stairs and passages, so he stuck to the one he was on. Finally the stairs went into a closed passage again. Walking through the passage, it at last came to an end. Without him saying a word, it opened for him. Stepping out, he found himself in a circular, metal room. There were doors along the sides, but only one was open. So he walked through it, to find Godo sitting in an armchair, reading a file.

Rufus walked forward and sat in an armchair set up across from it. Godo motioned to the tea, and set down the file on the table. Rufus could see the title.

_Kisaragi, Sayuri_

"You are here about my daughter." Godo announced.

Rufus nodded.

"…you are here because you've seen her."

"I'm here because she sought me out."

Godo looked at him disbelievingly.

"Well. She sought out my Turks, who brought her to me."

"So exactly why are you here, Rufus Shinra?"

Rufus was quiet. "I am here," he said finally, "to say I'm sorry."

With that, Rufus nodded at Godo. With that, he stood up and he walked out.

"For what?" Godo's voice finally rang out after him. Rufus didn't answer, but started walking up the stairs again.

"For what?" Godo's voice came again, louder.

Rufus turned.

"You didn't know her…you were too young to know anything about it…" Godo said, coming into the circular room, holding the file.

"I didn't know your wife or what happened to her." Rufus said. "But I do know your daughter."

Godo was, for the first time in their meeting, confused.

"And for what will happen," Rufus said, "I am sorry."

Godo's hands dropped, file held limply in one hand. Rufus started walking again, walking up the stairs.

"What is going to happen?" Godo asked, voice full of panic and heartbreak.

Rufus didn't answer.

"What's going to happen?" Godo's voice, growing distant came.

Rufus kept walking.

"Answer me!" The distant voice came.

"What is going to happen?" He cried.

But Rufus kept walking until the voice faded.

It was when he reached the top of the stairs, and Godo was at the bottom, no trace of any calling left that he answered.

"Your daughter is going to get caught." Rufus replied to the wall in front of him. "That is what is going to happen."

* * *

"Miss-"

"Mrs." Skye said, face contorting into a sad smile.

"Oh," Yuffie said, shifting uncomfortably. "I'm, um, sorry."

"Don't be." Skye said, and put a tray of breakfast on the bed for Yuffie.

"You really don't need to do this." Yuffie insisted.

"Yes I do." She said nonchalantly.

"No, really, I don't want to be a burden."

Skye smiled. "Then don't be."

She bustled into the kitchen, and Yuffie shrugged as she ate her breakfast. She wasn't about to insult the woman, after all. As she ate, she swore her eyes glazed over dreamily. How could Cloud grow up so screwed up if he ate food like this every day? Then again, maybe it was the sudden loss of the food that drove him into nutso-ville.

Skye came back.

"Did you have any kids, Mrs. Strife?"

"Skye, please. And yes."

"Where is he now?" Yuffie asked, knowing very well he was packed inside a car crushed up against the tree.

Skye shook her head. "It isn't really important…" she said sadly. "He doesn't even know I'm alive."

Then, something dawned on her. She went over what Yuffie had replied to her answer, and turned her head, eyebrows knit in suspicion and confusion. Regarding Yuffie with suspicion, she seemed to think on what to say. Finally, she looked over at Yuffie and locked her gaze with Yuffie's.

"…how did you know my child was a he?" she asked slowly.

Yuffie quickly decided whether to lie or not. Then, seeing as no one was around, she decided that lies would do her no good. "Because I know your son, Mrs. Strife."

Skye shook her head. "Everyone does."

"No…Mrs. Strife I know your son…I am close friends with your son."

Finally, it all dawned on her. Her lips parted and her eyes widened, and she walked forward, leaning down closely until her nose was an inch away from Yuffie's. She tilted her head and squinted, as if to get a better view. Finally, she leaned back.

"You are Yuffie Kisaragi." She stated.

"Yes." Yuffie smiled. "I am."

Mrs. Strife locked eyes with her and bit her bottom lip. "Well then," she said softly. "I suppose its time we had a little talk."

* * *

"Where are we going?" Cloud asked Rude. He'd only had his stitches for a day, but apparently he wasn't getting any time to recover. Rude was checking his guns and weapons, and Cloud hesitantly lifted his sword. He sighed with relief when he found he could lift it just as easily as he could before, that he hadn't damaged too much in the crash.

"Follow me." Rude said.

Cloud was a leader, and Turks were used to taking the lead, so it was an unpleasant rubbing of authority. Cloud hated not knowing where he was going, but he reluctantly followed Rude. As they were leaving the warehouse, he caught sight of himself in a grimy mirror. He grimaced.

His hair was still the color of dried straw, like it had been when he had met 'Summer.' His forehead was covered in puckered, scabby cuts, but the gel Rude had applied had done wonders, and the lump was reduced to a wide, but considerably smaller bump. He had his stitches and cut across the bridge of his nose.

"I look like Frankenstein," he muttered.

"Yes." Rude said. "You do."

Cloud quirked an eyebrow and chuckled. Was this the Rude version of a joke? Whatever it was, he ran fingers through straw-colored locks and strode after Rude. To his surprise, the bald Turk did not walk out the door, but took a sharp, unexpected turn. Cloud followed, and found he was being led up a staircase. Once the stairs ended, it was a maze of old boxes and rusted machinery in the dark. Finally, Rude opened a door.

It didn't take a genius to figure out where they were. The destitution and hungry air about the place rank of Midgar, and the dark and desolate nature of even post-Meteor Midgar screamed of the slums. Surprisingly, Cloud found himself climbing out of what seemed to be an old abandoned car, half covered in ivy. After that shock passed, Rude was already blending into the streets, walking ahead like he hadn't just climbed out of a car.

Cloud followed Rude faithfully, no matter how much it irked and irritated him. He was not a follower, no matter how much he wished to be, he didn't have it in him. So it bothered him when Rude finally entered what seemed to be the reincarnation of Wall Street.

Neon and halogen lights blinked, and Rude just walked past the shops. When he finally turned into one, Cloud followed. And as he walked in the door, he felt a frightful sensation of déjà veux. You see, Rude had led him into a dress shop.

The owner greeted him formally, but in a way that suggested they'd met before. Cloud heard the rumble of Rude's voice mention something about a pick up and his sister. Cloud found this quite odd, one reason being he never thought Rude had a sister, and secondly because he couldn't picture him with one. Yet Rude emerged with a hanger with a cover over it, and silently walked out of the shop. He proceeded to weave about Wall Mart, and while the déjà veux increased, so did his panic.

Rude finally weaved his way through until Cloud found himself staring upon a familiar sight: The Honeybee Inn. Or at least, it's new incarnation. Rather than go in the front, Rude slipped around to the back and knocked on the back door. It opened, and he was let in, and a few deep, incomprehensible words let Cloud come in to. Cloud felt his panic rise as Rude walked down a hall and finally turned into a room. Feeling his doom approach, Cloud turned in.

Sure enough, the room had vanity mirrors all across with individual prepping stations, and chairs like you see in hair salons. There were girls lounging around who looked, interested, at Cloud and Rude. The three girls smiled and stood up, and called a name. From an adjacent room, heels clicked and a girl entered.

She had olive complexion, large hazel eyes, brown hair tied into pigtails. She grinned brightly as she saw the two and walked forward. She wore Daisy Duke short-shorts with cowboy boots and an orange crop top that had 'Hooters' sprawled across the front, the eyes of the mascot owl were the O's, and suggested something else. Rude raised an eyebrow. "Hooters?" he asked.

She smiled. "Honey Bee business is so good in after Meteor world, they're opening up a restaurant. Not the same of course. Waitresses just dress something like this and have big ol' cha-chas as they serve. Nothing else."

"Ah." Rude said.

"If that goes well enough, they'll be Hooters Airlines."

"Can't wait." Said Rude.

Cloud chuckled and shouldn't have, for her attention shifted as she pulled her hair out of pigtails. "This is him, huh?" she said, and squinted at him, lips twitching down. "Do I know you?"

"No." Cloud deadpanned. Saying things too quickly was suspicious. "At least, I don't think."

"Huh." She said and shook her hair back, snapping hair-ties onto her wrists. She was gorgeous, Cloud had to give her that. "Well then." She grinned wickedly. "Let's get it started."

She seized Cloud and smiled as she forced him to sit in one of the chairs, and a few of the girls stood as a few left. One pulled up a tall chair and a table, and brought nail-files, nail polish and other evil looking equipment over as she grabbed Cloud's hand. Rude's friend in the Hooters shirt took the wig from Rude and praised him on his taste. The chair was spun around so a girl with more evil looking equipment could settle by his feet.

Before Cloud could protest or glare at Rude, the Hooters girl strapped him into the chair with a makeshift rope made of tied together scarves. She picked from a selection of bald skin-caps and fitted one over Cloud's head.

"Come on, handsome, we've got a lot of work to do."

* * *

Yuffie rubbed her temples on both sides of her head, eyes shut. She groaned lightly, her false brunette hair falling like a curtain on either side of her face, as though shielding it. The woman who claimed to be Cloud Strife's mother sat across from them, fidgeting with her apron strings. She looked up nervously and fiddled more as Yuffie bit her lip. "Far too many dead people are coming back to life," she grumbled.

A nervous laugh was all Skye offered. "I don't know who else, honey, but chances are that we were never dead."

"Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated," Yuffie murmured.

"What was that?" Skye inquired.

"Nothing." Yuffie sighed. "Let's just get this straight. Your son came into town with Sephiroth, here on known as Crazy Silver Haired Psycho, here on abbreviated as C.S.H.P. So C.S.H.P. proceeded to torch the town, which was unfortunate. So, you manage to escape the fiery flames of your house and save a few village children. So you and your merry gang of kids escaped to the hills, sustaining fiery burns of ouchness, and you guys chilled there. One of the kids died, the others you managed to save from the fiery burns. You stayed there, because you were all too weak to move further than it took to get food in water. You had found a little nook carved deep in where there was a natural spring and food supply. As you gained strength, one of the older kids left to find help. He, however, couldn't find his way back, disoriented. But when he was getting weak, he found a traveler, who was led back to the nook. He saved you all, but took you to his house in the middle of bum-…uh, in the middle of nowhere."

"Actually, a short while away from Rocket Town."

"Yea. Well, when you healed, you all had fallen into a rhythm and lived there. You, however, remembered your hometown and son, so you decided to go back, taking some children with you. By now, it was five and a half years later and town was creepy town. But more people were coming as the creepy Shin-Ra people abandoned it, so you turned it into a town here."

"And I've lived here ever since."

Yuffie looked up. "Now, what doesn't make any sense is _why_?"

She raised her eyebrows.

"I mean, this is all well in good for growing up and raising a family, but why come back? After all that happened, and what this place became, why?"

Skye frowned slightly, and her head bowed. Her hair fell over her face, and she looked up at Yuffie, blue eyes piercing. "I've been waiting for my son." She said, voice quavering. "Even after…everything I've been waiting for something, someone…a clue. A sign."

Her eyes were brightening, almost fanatically. It was frightening, for such a normally calm and cheery woman. She lunged forward and seized a startled Yuffie by the biceps. "And then you came," she said feverishly, eyes glowing with a frantic light. "And now you're here," she breathed, and her face moved closer. Yuffie leaned back, eyes wide, startled by this new side of crazy she was seeing. "You're supposed to have come here," she smiled, a half-there smile, more discomforting than not. "It was fate, don't you see?" she barked a laugh in triumph.

"Ma'am," Yuffie said evenly but seriously. "Let go of me."

Even in the bout of mild insanity, she was sharp. Her gleaming eyes grew sharp and narrowed. "You're not leaving." She said.

"I'm going to count to three," Yuffie said professionally as the grip tightened.

"No!" Skye protested. She became pathetic, a simpering, pleading, desperate woman. "Please, please, my son…" she pleaded.

"One." Yuffie said, glaring.

Nails bit into Yuffie's arms, a sharp contrast to the pathetic mess of a woman in front of her, looking like she was incapable of hurting a housefly. "It is _destiny_, don't you see?" Skye's gleaming, fanatical eyes widened, as though searching for an ounce of understanding.

"Two." Yuffie continued.

The nails drew blood. Yuffie winced, and her lips grew tight.

"Oh don't, please, this was _fate!_ Goddamnit!" she cried, starting to shake Yuffie back and forth. Yuffie's eyes widened in shock as the arms gave her a good hard shake. "Goddamnit, don't you see this was _supposed to happen?! _What do you want me to do?!"

"Three." Yuffie finished.

"_This was supposed to happen!"_ she cried in despair.

Yuffie, seeing the hands would be difficult to pry off, darted a hand up in a pincer like shape that grabbed her at the back of the neck. Her fingers dove into two pressure points, and Skye hunched over, neck sticking up like a turtle.

"Let go," Yuffie growled, and pushed harder on the pressurepoints.

Skye peeled her fingers off Yuffie. Yuffie squeezed hard then let go, letting Skye crumple on the ground rubbing the back of her neck. As Yuffie strode from the house, Skye collapsed into dry sobs. "This was supposed to happen…" she whispered. "Don't leave…it was meant to happen…"

"I hope you find Cloud and your sanity," Yuffie said spitefully, looking without pity on the depressing figure of a woman. "But don't you count on me." She turned from the house, and opened the door, and didn't look back. "He's no friend of mine," she finished bitterly, hoisted her Conformer and slammed shut the door, leaving a woman with her sobs.

* * *

"How did we get on the Eastern Continent?" Cloud asked suddenly as the woman prodded and pulled at him. Asking what this was for had proven useless.

"I brought you here." Rude said. Thank you, Captain Obvious.

"Yes, but _how_?"

Rude was silent, but as he looked away it dawned on Cloud. "You were following Yu-" he glanced at the woman around. "You were following her."

Rude didn't respond.

"Why are the Turks interested in Her?"

Rude didn't say a word.

"Where's Reno? And Elena?"

"They are doing what She asked them to do."

Cloud narrowed his eyes. "You're lying."

Rude looked at him blandly from beyond the sunglasses.

"You're not lying." He said, defeated. "She sought you out."

Rude was silent.

"Why?"

"If She sought you out, why did you follow Her without Her knowing?"

Cloud sighed in defeat. "Fine. Maybe I don't deserve to know."

"…Life rarely gives you what you deserve." Rude said.

Cloud sighed, thinking of the events come to past. "Tell me about it." Then, he thought again.

"Or maybe," Cloud said, voice laced with defeat, "Or maybe it gives you exactly what you deserve. Maybe we're all being constantly punished for some cosmic wrongdoing, or even for a microscopic one. Maybe we're all constantly being rewarded, rewarded for what we've done. Maybe I've earned my reward."

Cloud snorted and shook his head. To his surprise, Rude spoke, echoing what he was thinking.

"Some reward." Rude said.

* * *

**A/N: **Okay, I'm introducing some new elements: Karma. Ooohhh.

And finally the quote is finished. I'm referring to the italisized quotes that have been below the Chapter announcement of each chapter. It was all one quote, if you didn't notice, and here is it in it's entirety:

_I'm a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world…and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and have done my share of eating, too. I am not washed and beautiful, in control of a shining world in which everything fits, but instead am wandering awed about on a splintered wreck I've come to care for, whose gnawed trees breathe a delicate air, whose bloodied and scarred creatures are my dearest companions, and whose beauty beats and shines not in its imperfections, but overwhelmingly in spite of them, under the wind-rent clouds, upstream and down._

Well I like it, and I think it fits really well. But now the quotes won't stop they'll just be different either per chapter or another thing like this.

Another chapter ends with a Rude statement that I really like. I like Rude. Whoo. Go Rude.

Whoah. Cloud's mom is a psychooo. But don't think too badly of her yet, she lost a son, remember? And then found out he risked his life to save the world, and is in mortal peril and lost again.

And what are you up to Rufus you sneaky kid?

And the origins of Hooters.

So leave a review! Hope you liked it.

Finally, reviewer thanks:** Midnight Mafia, xmutedx, Fox in a Den, XxHowToSaveALifexX, VinVal, MysticKoorime, aidiane valentine, laila, Chibi Ninjaa xo.cherry, Cookiekitten, MadMaz87, moonstarlight.**


	11. Devoured, Deserved

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

Devoured, Deserved

_Ashes to Ashes_

-Funeral service from _The Book of Common Prayer_

Yuffie shuffled through Nibelheim, intent on finding a bar and staying there until dark. Then she could steal a chocobo from the public stables and trek away from the depressing village. As she moped through, kicking loose stones with her feet, she found her traitor feet had led her to where she least wanted to go; to where she most wanted to go. Walking forward with tentative steps, she looked with awe-filled horror at the ruins of the Shin-Ra Mansion.

Ashes. They covered the place, and as Yuffie took a step through the partially melted gate, her shoes immediately tread on black soot, ashes that formed a small dust-cloud around her foot. Looking up from her feet, her heart throbbed terribly. The front wall on her left had put up a fight, coming up to where – if the door had still been there – half the door was. It sloped upwards until it came to a high point, up to half the second story. The wall it connected with was mostly intact, but covered with char marks and riddled with holes, like an ancient book with pages eaten out. At one spot near the back, the wall was almost black – well, what was left of it. The right side of the front wall only had a meek existence, a pathetic upshot next to the door that quickly vanished to nothing. Yuffie felt her heart pound all the way down to the sole of her shoes as she walked silently inside.

Just as soon as she walked in, she looked up. She looked around, woe and strife trickling into her eyes and spilling onto her face. The previously grand staircase had melted and distorted railings as the staircase itself was black with soot and char. At the top it was mostly whole, but about halfway down the right side of the staircase vanished, and slowly the gap grew wider until at the bottom there was only a sliver of staircase. It was perplexing, because near the back – the Piano Room – there was signs of more intense burning, like on the right of the mansion. The best Yuffie could figure, villagers torched the front right corner while another mob chuckled a torch throw a window in the piano room.

Yuffie took a step forward, looking around mournfully and found her foot happened upon thin air. She darted back, standing on the tips of her toes as she, for the first time, looked down. What she found was nothing. The hardwood floor had been burnt up, and only continued to the sliver of staircase, jutting out over the empty bottom of the staircase. She supposed the fire department had stepped in, otherwise the whole place would be ashes and dust.

Something else about the gap snatched her eye, however. Where the grand staircase ended, or should have, a new staircase began. Concrete, it started out wide, like an extension of the grand staircase, but narrowed to a spindly spiral. Yuffie, glad she had her trusty weapon with her, decided she must know what was down there.

Testing the floorboards, she bounced slightly. Weak. So she cautiously made her way around the very outside of the floor, nearest to the walls. Chances were that it would be weak next to the gap. Peering into the kitchen, it was a depressing sight. Her feet drew her in, body unwilling.

She didn't think Vincent had actually been here the night of the torching. Apparently, she was wrong.

He must have come back for something he needed. In any case, he had appeared to be clearing out the kitchen, a smart thing to do for a traveler, especially in the mountains. Things that wouldn't last were stacked in a pile, and things too heavy to bring. Beans, canned goods and water bottles, however (there were only two – he must have snatched up the rest) were all in a separate pile. Reaching out, she found coffee and tea sitting forlornly between the two piles. She gave a weak smile, and closed her eyes.

She could almost see it.

_Vincent Valentine was in full outfit, because she couldn't imagine him in disguise. His cloak was draped over a chair, and he was dragging everything out of the cupboards. True, he hadn't come here for this, but he had run out of water and food two days back. There would be no sense in leaving this behind. He checked labels (getting sick would be a most troublesome hindrance) and sorted them._

_Though it was dark, he heard shouts. Wary, he grabbed a couple water bottles and cans and put them in his bag (Vincent didn't 'stuff' things) and his claw snatched up the cloak. The shouts grew louder and nearer, like a distant – angry – marching band. Without explanation, he darted out of the kitchen and made his way not out the door, but up the stairs. Dashing to the basement door, he glanced out a window. A mob, armed not with pitchforks but rifles, handguns, knives and fire. They buzzed angrily, a hive of bees that had been prodded by Vincent's presence. Or, he assumed. He hoped not. As there was an angry shout that was followed by a louder matching one from the mob, he heard glass break. Without another glance he opened and shut the stone basement door, and made his way down the rotten steps._

_Above, the mansion burned._

Shaking her head, she picked up a forlorn can of beans. Well, Vincent had done all this nice work. No need for it to be wasted. Taking the large two waters and as many cans as she judged reasonable (too heavy was no good) she stuffed them in her constant companion, her black backpack, and left the kitchen, the hem of her red skirt stained with black.

She left the kitchen and peered into the piano room. All that was left of the piano was a couple foot pedals that had been melted, twisted and charred. Picking up one, she looked at it, hand becoming covered in black. The sun shifted from outside, and something tugged at the corner of her eye. Turning, her brow furrowed as she bent down. Brushing char aside, she picked up a jagged slab of wood. Rubbing the wood on the bottom of her skirt, she worked off the ashes and soot. She flipped over the wood and realization struck her. The number '10' blazed, bold as ever. Rubbing off more soot and ashes with her dress, she found the word 'Left' in front of it. Shaking her head, she found herself gripping the slab of wood tightly. "The varnish," she said to no one in particular, running fingers over it. "Must have been Fire-Proofed." For no reason she could fathom, she found herself putting it into a pocket of her pack. Hands black and dress patched with it, she left the Piano room with the clue that had fallen behind the ivory's short of tea and ray.

Emerging from the room, she stared into the vast pit. The concrete stairwell glared up at her, daring her. So she turned around. Gripping the melted mess of a railing, she began walking up the stairs. _The whole place have been covered with Fire-Proof Varnish_, she mused, _that's why it took so long. That's why it's so oddly burnt_. Walking up the stairs, she tested each before stepping up, and made her way to the top. Instead of turning right, she took an inexplicable left, to the master bedroom.

It was all the same. The far side was partially burnt out, and ashes, soot and mildew reigned. She sighed and made to turn around, but found herself glancing around once more. Walking forward, her brow furrowed. A drawer lay on the floor, having either been ransacked or knocked out. Pictures, three of them, burnt on the edges but saved. She picked one up and a pained smile forced its way onto her lips. It was the whole gang. Vincent was in the back, looking at the camera warily, like it was an adversary. Yuffie herself was in front, nearest to it, kneeling and grinning, flashing a peace sign.

She had the exact same picture in her pack.

But something about the burned edges, that he had bothered keeping it on his bedside or wherever meant something. Or not. Maybe she just felt like maybe he was still alive, if she kept a piece of what was his with him. So she tucked it away.

The next one she picked up had writing on the back. She could not read any of it, having been charred beyond recognition - that is, all but at the bottom, where the brown that marked the heat of the fire had halted, edging forward but never making it.

_'Love, Vincent V.'_

Love.

Knowing what she would find, and heart filled with foreboding, she turned the picture over. She gasped.

She had seen Lucrecia at her worst; wan, sickly, pale, trapped inside a crystal. Here, she was luminous. Hair that had seemed ratty, dull and mousy was here silky and shiny, pulled back but somehow managing to look just as lovely. She was fair skinned, but unblemished, brown eyes shining brightly as her white smile shone. Her eyes looked not at the camera, but at the one next to her.

If Yuffie had been surprised before, that was nothing compared to now.

It was Vincent. Oh yes, she'd expected that. But she hadn't expected this.

His hair was cut short and in a sloppy style, but in an impeccably neat way only Vincent could pull off. It fell over an eye but was flicked out of the way, and his eyes were on her. His eyes. Yuffie's heart knotted. They shone with brightness, and they were a brilliant, gorgeous blue, the kind you could lose yourself. Though the blue was like the blue of a stone, hard, but somehow this woman had gotten to the shine beneath. But Yuffie's gaze traveled down. The knot in her heart tightened, and she knew know she would never get it out.

He was smiling. God damn he was, close lipped but warm and having been battled out of him it was full of loving defeat. Their foreheads touched and their smiles fit.

Yuffie hated it.

Never the less, she tucked it away, a picture she loved with a picture she hated.

Standing, she hiked her backpack up on her shoulders and cautiously made her way across the floor. As she came to the central staircase, she bit her lip but moved onwards. She had to explore territory she knew before she came to territory she didn't. Walking forward, she halted.

You see, most of the hallway was missing.

Frowning, she realized that all of it had been burnt out. It was impossible to get from here to there now. But then how did Vincent get out? Obviously there was another way out. And when there was another way out, there was another way in. And so she wouldn't be seen snooping around outside, she decided the next course of action was obvious. Turning, she made her way down the burnt up staircase, and reaching the bottom, she looked down and took a deep breath. The concrete staircase surrounded by a pool of black was hardly a welcoming image. Never the less, she took a step onto the staircase. Nothing happened, so she continued down through the hole at the bottom of the stairs. Her feet made no sound, and as she padded down, she found herself wishing it would.

As it narrowed to a spiral, she realized the guttural darkness was starting to be penetrated. Flashes of blue-green lit the area with an eerie glow before receding with an odd crackly-hum. Frowning, for the first time it occurred to her that someone might be down here. But as she continued, drawing her Conformer, she soon realized her feelings could be delayed slightly. For the staircase lowered into a wide, medical looking hallway. Nothing like the cavern at the bottom of the basement stairs, it was white if now dirty, and blue and green fluorescent lights flickered on and off, buzzing and humming from old age, fighting to stay alight. The place had an abandoned air about it, and left the place feeling eerie and haunted, even. No fiends seemed to be prowling, so that fear could subside. Still, she held it battle ready as she peered around the hall. Decided she better start with the first door she came to, she peered in the small window. As far as she could tell, no one was there. Carefully, she pushed the door open, and when silence and the electric buzz met her ears, she pushed it open more.

It seemed to be the supply room, like a walk in closet. Ancient bottles mottled the shelves, gauze, syringes and even bottled organs filling the shelves. More unsettling than not was that they hadn't been cleared out. Taking a flashlight off the shelf, she turned and let. Next she came to a set of doors across from each other. Turning to the right, she shined a small light through the window. She pushed the door open.

The room was much deeper than the earlier one, incredibly so. The room was much dimmer in overhead lighting, but that was not to say she couldn't see. The room was lined with three rows of cylindrical tubes, each around seven feet – in short, size for a human with extra room. The ones she could view in front were empty, filled only with brightly glowing green liquid. The green liquid seemed to pulse with an unnatural life, illuminating the dim room green.

Walking up to a tube, she peered in it. Walking along the middle row, she looked into the tubes, remembering that Cloud had been kept in one of these – or one like it. The ones in Hojo's office must have been for the ones needing closest attention, or his current favorites. Grimacing, as she was passing one, she placed her hand against it. About to pass on, she glimpsed out the corner of her eye and turned back. Squinting, she moved her face forward to peer into the tube. Her nose pressed against the thing before she drew back from surprise. Inside the thing, perhaps for years, was a tiny being. A baby, possibly even a fetus, unborn, though close to birth. Curled up in a little ball, she had nearly missed it because of the shocking effect of the mako and whatever else they had been experimenting with. The baby had lost some resemblance to a human. Fingers and toes were webbed, and the nose had gone sharp. But what was more shocking was the baby had formed crystals all over his or her – it was impossible to tell anymore – body, until the entire thing, like Lucrecia, was encased in crystal, with other crystallized parts jutting out sharply. Yet even more shocking than the crystals was the color of the baby. It was why Yuffie had almost missed it. After all the years in the tube, the baby had gone transparent. It was transparent, or nearly so, for it was a clear blue, even while still see-through. Yuffie shook her head, revolted and saddened, but as she turned, something happened.

The baby twitched.

Horrified, Yuffie looked in.

The baby opened its eyes.

They were a horrifying milky blue, crystals jutting out of blind eyes. Revolted, Yuffie made a noise and turned.

From there on, the tubes weren't empty.

Filled with grotesque failures – or so they appeared – they had probably been around for years even before Hojo died. Some were hardly human, and some she doubted had started out as so. She could barely bring herself to look at them, but she did, and she managed to loop around through all three rows. Again and again she looked at the horrible experiments, allowing them to cut her mind.

Across the hall was much of the same. She walked down the hall, feet slapping. The next four rooms were bedroom type things, with doors leading to two other bedrooms beyond it. Twelve bedrooms in all, gentle and feeling, one a nursery for multiple children. A discomforting paradox, such terrible experiments next to such innocent and gentle rooms. The next set of rooms reminded her of the room you were sent in before you were sent to the main doctor's office, between the waiting room and the actual examination room. Cold, stainless steel reigned, the room itself silver walled and floored. Most discomforting was that the patient bed-chair had restraints on it. Leaving these rooms, she found herself with no more rooms on the side. Instead, she found herself facing the set of double doors.

Eyes narrowing, she opened the right door cautiously, the room exposing itself, bit by bit. The door opened fully.

She gasped, the sharp intake seeming almost unholy in the godforsaken place. She took a few sudden steps backwards and closed her eyes fiercely, pressing the heels of her hands into her shut eyes. "Oh no, no, no, no, no," she whimpered, and couldn't will herself to open them again. Dread, however, peeled her hands from her face and pried open her eyes. Chest heaving and her breath hitching, her lower jaw trembled as she opened her eyes.

Stepping forward until the room was visible again, it took her entire will not to run straight out again. She could feel bile rising in the back of her throat. What she was in was obviously an operating room, large and filled with cold stainless steel and unfeeling tools. The main bed in the center was set at an angle, and it also had restraints. Stainless steel without a cover, with a metal tray next to it, full of cloths and syringes. Usually, the place would be medically clean, in the eerie way of hospitals and doctor's offices.

This, however, was a far shot from it. For one thing, they'd forgotten the patient.

The restraints had been taken off, and the man was cut open. Cut open in the most literal sense, using the traditional cut from autopsies. The traditional cut was a Y shape, the arms of the Y extending from each shoulder to the bottom of the breastbone, before a precise line extended to the pelvis. Yuffie could hardly keep from puking, for they hadn't even left the patient closed. His flesh was peeled back from his body like a sick parody of a banana, exposing the gory, tender insides.

To make it worse, the aforementioned wheeled tray was bloody, a couple instruments soaking in what had once been water, but now was as red as blood. A bloody washrag dipped into the bloody water before trailing over the tray and off the side. Bloody, terrifying instruments stained the papery sheet beneath it, and the blood caked on the long forgotten tools. The man on the table, eyes shut, seemed to loom with the potential of awareness, like the baby in the tube. But no, this man was long dead. The monitors and loads and loads of scientific and medical monitors had long ago stopped beeping, long ago stopped keeping him alive. Against her will and against her urge to barf, she looked inside the man.

If you blocked out the man, it was still disgusting, but you could try better to distance yourself when it had no face. She squinted, and couldn't believe what she saw.

The insides were a jumble. From anatomy lessons she could identify various organs, and they were nearly all there. The appendix had been removed, and as she glanced at the cart, she jumped. It was lying there, on the second, lower shelf of the cart, limp and lifeless like a fish lured up to shore. Shivering, she went back to her analysis.

The heart was not anywhere near the left breast. The heart, apparently, had been relocated. Relocated across and down to behind the bars of the ribcage, considerably lower than the high place in the chest. The rest of the organs had been relocated to fit the needs of the heart. It seemed that he had wanted to jumble them as much as possible, for he moved even ones that needed not moving. The stomach and the attaching intestine, which attached to the output of the whole digestive system, but that hadn't stopped him. He'd moved the stomach to where the heart should be, and when it was clear the intestines weren't going to stretch properly, he'd attached tubes that mimicked the actions of the intestines and transported it. She stared, transfixed. A stomach where the heart should be and a heart where the stomach should have been.

It seemed appropriate enough for a man whose love and obsession for science had devoured his wife.

* * *

Back on solid ground, he felt safer. A completely unreasonable feeling this safety was, as there was no reason to feel more clearheaded on land. Or perhaps it was the notion, that the sea was changing and whimsical, tossing and turning constantly while land was grounded. Grounded, like his emotions. Of course, sea made him think of her, because of how sick she always got. He found it almost comical that she in herself was the sea almost to a tee, changing, thrashing, whimsical but whenever she was on it she longed for the land. Her connections to the water Summon-god only strengthened the ties.

No matter. Putting her, or any of them, back into his mind would only get him captured. A single track mind was what he'd trained himself to have. Yet this again led back to her. Mostly because where his mind was focused, her mind ran all over the place, snatching ideas and thoughts out of the air and pulling them back in, and yet she could focus.

He shook his head. All of them had become his friends, against his will and against his better judgment. They'd wormed their way into his life, and he hadn't the heart and truthfully he didn't have the ability or, even if he found a way to drive him away, he realized he wouldn't want to.

How the tides had changed.

A uniformed officer strolled up from his patrol car, looking very serious as he lightly hit his nightstick into his hand. Then, he grinned and stuck out his hand. Vincent pulled his false smile and took the other's hand.

"Good to have you back, man," the police officer said and pulled in to pat him on the back a couple times in what Yuffie had often called 'the Manshake.'

"Good to be back." Vincent lied. "Good to be back." Vincent confessed.

* * *

"_Do you believe in karma, Vin?" Yuffie asked._

_He looked up. He had long ago abandoned trying to discourage her from her nicknames, but strangely enough, tolerated. From anyone else he probably wouldn't put up with it. Maybe it was because out of all of AVALANCHE, she'd been the first to look him in the eye. And it wasn't even that she had to bring herself to do it. The first thing everyone did when he jumped out of the coffin and opened his eyes, right after their moment of shock they turned from his eyes. But not her; she stared him straight in the eyes, storm grays not disturbed by dried blood red._

"…_I do not know."_

"_I mean…" Yuffie said. "I don't believe that it happens in another life. We don't believe in reincarnation." Yuffie said. "We like to think-" 'we' being Wutai of course, "that you are you once, unique. But then you join the waters, one with everyone."_

_Vincent looked up. "You don't believe in the Lifestream?"_

_Yuffie shrugged. "Of course we do – it's obviously there. But it was never clear whether we think we become a part of the waters of the ocean, or the waters of the Lifestream." She tilted her head in thought. "Maybe both."_

"_Hm."_

"_But like, do you believe that for every good thing you do, something good happens to you, and for everything bad you do, something bad happens to you?"_

_Vincent opened his mouth to say no, but it closed again. After everything, action-reaction. But was falling in love with Lucrecia good or bad? Obviously love was good, but adultery? Good or bad?_

"_I don't know."_

_Yuffie was quiet for a second. "I think…I think I might."_

"_I mean." Yuffie stopped for a moment, and her hand rose to her neck and absentmindedly the tips of her four fingers ran over the middle, where the turtleneck sweater covered. "Some makes sense, because I can think of colossally bad things I did that were completely unrelated to colossally bad things that happened. But then, there's things I can't even explain. So I don't know if karma is the right thing…do you think…" she paused. "Do you think that we're…"_

_She was thinking really hard, and deeply, and it was unnerving him._

"_Do you think we're born bad?"_

_Nothing unnerved him._

"_Because I can think of things that happened before I had done anything bad."_

_Well. Not for a long time._

"_So I don't think its karma exactly."_

_Or at least, not an actual person._

"_I mean…"_

_Chaos unnerved him, even if he grew accustomed to the demon. But putting Yuffie on the same level of the demon seemed blasphemous. Or perhaps just…_

"_My dad told me it was morbid…but…"_

_Unnerving._

"_you know, I think…"_

_It was as if he wasn't even there, she was just speaking out loud. But there was a pure, embarrassingly bare need to have someone to listen to her._

_So he did._

_She was pensive, arms hugging knees to chest, eyes trained on bare, flexed feet, toenails she'd painted bright orange ("Hey, I'm not a tomboy, Vinners.")._

"_I think that we get...well what we get.."_

_He looked at her, waiting._

"_We get what we deserve." she finished with a great heaving breath._

_And for once, when his mind jumped to Lucrecia and the Nibelheim incident, it couldn't stay there. All he could do is wonder what on the Planet Yuffie had deserved._

* * *

Motion made her empty her stomach, but apparently, dissected bodies didn't. But what startled her, what she found more odd than anything, was the body. If this had been around since Hojo was gone, the body should be decomposing, shouldn't it? True, it was decomposing slightly, a foul odor arising, but not to the equivalent of at least a year. And, since the ShinRa mansion had been abandoned by the Science Program for ages, it should be decomposed to bones.

Thirty one years decomposed.

The truth struck her, and made her freeze up. Either something was preventing him from decomposing, which she doubted, since he had recently started to, or the ShinRa mansion had _not_ been out of use. That meant that people had _been here_. That meant these things were all still going on. And the association of that was even more terrifying. Because these experiments could mean two things. It could mean there was someone as sick, or sicker, and crazier than Hojo around as a scientist, working for Auhncore; or there was the more terrifying alternative.

Hojo wasn't dead.

But that couldn't be. She'd been there. She'd fought him, she'd watched as Vincent took the death shot, loathing filling those crimson orbs to a horrifying degree.

She peered at the body, pinching her nose shut. It'd probably been abandoned when the fire came, which either meant Vincent had been here at the same time as those scientists, or the scientists were the ones in the kitchen. Either way, they hadn't used the front door. There was another way.

Turning, she made to walk through the door that connected to the room, when a hand pressed down on her shoulder. Eyes widening, she couldn't reach her boots in time or even raise her shruiken before a hand slithered over her mouth and drew her in close to him, other arm sliding tightly across her waist and gripping the wrist that held the shruiken firmly.

"Hey there, babe." He said, lips fluttering near her ears.

**A/N:** Update. I couldn't get up this morning, literally. So I didn't go to school. I am so upset over the Virginia Tech shooting. I didn't even know anyone there, but it's so sad that a human being could fall that far, that someone could do that to another. How could a person do that to another? But anyway.

erm. Karma again. K-K-karma. Said it was going to have a minor role in the story, not like a plot twister but...well.

About the Title: Complex, as it deals with things not even mentioned in the chapter. About how everthing devoured seemed deserved, almost. hard to say. The mansion devoured by fire, and how it was deserved. This is where it gets more complicated: Deserved Vincent would think because of his own sins, deserved Yuffie would think because of the horrible experiments she was discovering, and the villagers would see it as deserved because of the allegations against Vincent in the mad world. Refers to the body, how the place where the heart should be is devoured by the stomach, and how Hojo's love of science devoured Lucrecia. Refers to Yuffie, and how she says people get what they deserve, refering to herself. I would say more about devoured, but...well, guess if you want to. Finally, Vincent, devoured by his desire to see his friends, and devoured by his conflicting desire to get away from them.

About the Quote: So many issues picking out this quote. Chose simplicity, because of the ashes of the mansion, but fits in with the title, and how you 'get what you deserve.' I'll let you explore the depth and meaning.

Not much to say.

Except I just realized that the 'get what you deserve' theme here might seem horrible in light of the Virginia tech shootings, but I just want to make sure everyone knows _I _don't feel that way, especially _especially_ not about such a tragic event. I don't think anyone would have thought that way, but better to make sure no one is offended or confused.

Just send your prayers, good wishes, anything to Virginia Tech, and don't forget the 30 people who were shot at Norris Hall and the 2 shot in the dormitory. And pray and hope that nothing like this will happen again.

**.K.i.t.K.a.t.**


	12. Not a Hero

**Chapter Eleven**

Not a Hero

_I'm just a man, __I'm not a hero_

Cloud was scared. His heart thumped and he felt a terror that gripped his body mind and soul. The chair turned, and he saw himself in the mirror.

His mouth opened in horror.

Deja veux was a bitch.

They had given him a blonde wig that had sultry hair that cascaded in loose curls around his shoulders. Blue eyes stared out from long, faux lashes of feathery blonde color. Staring at his own reflection, he gingerly touched his face. His eye makeup was done professionally making his blue eyes intense and the illusion that they were slanted and more feminine then they were. It drew attention away from his more masculine features, like his jaw line (although it wasn't a far shot from disguising as feminine). At his shock, the women around him started laughing in a self satisfied way. Then, he stood and looked at the dress they'd stuffed him in. It was blue, to match his eyes and makeup, and had wide set spaghetti straps that somehow managed to make his shoulders appear smaller, less wide and more feminine. They'd stuffed him into some body shaping contraption that stopped below his chest. It made his stomach smaller than he thought possible, tucking it in the make a definitive waistline. It had padding to make it look as though he had hips, albeit narrow ones. But what was above the body shaper was more interesting. Somehow they'd gotten a hold of attachable boobs – not real ones, of course, but extremely life like. Unbelieving, he poked one, and shut his eyes.

"Don't get too excited," one of the girls cooed, and they all laughed.

He couldn't laugh. They were large, but not enough to compare to these girls or Tifa, for that matter.

"_You see," Hooters had explained as she took out an object, and Cloud kept his eyes shut tight for the makeup artists. "You can't make these too big," he had no clue what she was talking about, "or they won't stay on. Taking these off is going to be a bitch, boy, 'cause you use a special glue to glue these suckers on.."_

He grimaced at the blue strapless bra, feeling extremely violated. The blue dress's neckline was V cut, exposing some of his false boobs, and it had a few tasteful sparkly-things, whatever you called them. The mirror was full length, and the dress went down to his ankles. He wore blue high heels, but not too tall, since though he was short for a man, he was tall for a woman. Afraid of what he would see, because he could still remember the blinding pain, he lifted the dress. Sure enough, his muscular calves were as smooth as stones in a river. Looking aghast (even Aeris hadn't gone so far) he remembered the pain.

He'd take a strike with the Masamune before getting his legs waxed again.

The girls had laughed at him, teasing him about a legendary hero being such a little baby. You see, he hadn't really done it. Not really. His eyes had watered a bit.

But he certainly hadn't cried.

No. He hadn't.

He just had a little dust in his eyes.

Damn it.

Staring at himself, he almost swore he saw Rude's mouth twitching into a smile. Figuring it was an illusion of the mirror, he whipped around, and sure enough, Rude was as serious as ever. Rude's friend with the Hooters shirt grinned mischievously and walked around behind him, standing on tiptoes to look over his shoulder and place her hands on his shoulders. "God, Strife." She said, revealing she _did_ know who he was. "You're a babe!"

And most unfortunately, she was right.

* * *

The storm had passed, and she fetched Blur from the stables. She was bundled up to an unrecognizable degree. She wore five layers of long sleeved shirts, and over that her blue down coat. A warm white scarf wrapped around her neck and up around her nose. Blue tinted goggles with a white rim covered her eyes, and a white and blue hat covered her head and ears. She wore many layers of pants, plus snowpants and boots. Layers of socks under the boots, and gloves. Hot pads across her stomach, hands and feet. She was ready. Unfortunately, all this made it a bitch to climb on blur, and she didn't even want to think about close range battle. Her gun was in close reach, but she hated to think of what might happen. Hopefully she could outrun anything on Blur.

But she was ready. She saw the man from before (what was his name?) emerge from the chocobo business and nod at her as she trotted out of town on Blur. Trotting out of the town, the chocobo's talons were immediately buried in fresh, powdery snow. She was thankful for her layers and preparation, the cold not yet biting her – sweating would be a problem, maybe leading to overheating, but hopefully not. She led Blur into a trot outside of town, riding to the top of a hill.

As Blur came to the top, the Northern Continent stretched out in front of her. She only had eyes, however, for one place.

The Northern Crater.

If she didn't find what she was looking for there, it was the long way to the City of the Ancients, since she wanted to avoid the Sleeping Forest.

White blanketed as far as she could see, and just a speck of blue and black, like a bruise on the landscape, Elena urged Blur forward.

They had a long way to go.

* * *

The hand over her mouth pulled her close, pressing her back up against a body that was obviously taller than her and more muscular, apparently. Her hands flew up and nails dug into the crescent at the base of the nails. A muffled curse came from behind her and the hand came off. She whirled around and already had a knife in her hand by the time her eyes met a pair of aquamarine ones. Yuffie's eyes narrowed and glared, and she lowered the knife. There he was, fiery red-headed, frighteningly bright eyed and sucking on his fingers. The arm around her waist hadn't left, just slid to the back, letting her know that it hadn't been her efforts that had set her mouth free. It let her know that he was not as weak as he played he was, that he wouldn't have let go if he hadn't wanted to. "Reno!" she hissed. He smirked, fingers still in his mouth as he withdrew them and gave her a head nod, smirk spreading across his face.

"The one and only."

"Leviathan." She glared, her heart pounding and hands sweaty. Her ego was taking quite a blow at the moment.

Reno looked at her curiously. "You didn't even hear me, did you?" His curiosity was giving way to a triumph, a glint that she didn't like.

She glared.

"Well well. I snuck up on the greatest ninja ever."

"I was off guard."

"The great ninja, off guard?"

She scowled, not saying anything because he was _right._ Off guard was death in ninja-land, and Yuffie probably still had bumps on her head from getting rapped with a staff at random times during the day. Ninja training was a bitch. But reluctantly, though with a flourish, she stepped aside.

Even Reno, Turk who'd seen so many dead bodies, took a step back. He grimaced and waved his hand in front of his nose, as though fanning the area around his nose would improve the stench. "Fuck that's nasty."

"Reno." She said, voice laden with contempt. Yuffie threw in an eye roll, just for effect. "It's _recent._ No one but Vincent should have been in this mansion for a long time. And there's more, too."

Reno twirled his nightstick lazily. "So your vamp likes to dissect people."

"Mhm. Because that would be Vin's hobby, after getting dissected himself."

"Hey. He got hooked."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. Reno took it as a cue to say something worthwhile.

"So what you're saying is that some people have been in Hojo's old labs."

"No." Yuffie said. "These are sick. This is grossness to the maximum-supremeo. This is the work of ShinRa scientists. Or a ShinRa scientist…"

Reno caught on, and his eyes widened. "Hold up. You're saying Hojo isn't dead?"

Yuffie shook her head. It was too much to wrap her mind around, especially with the body hovering on the edges of their conversation, and that door leading to the other rooms scratching at her mind. Then, as she thought of something, her brow furrowed and, before he even answered, she found her face heating with anger. She looked up at Reno, a slight edge to her voice. "What _are_ you doing here anyway?"

Reno frowned.

Yuffie felt her suspicion rising. "You should be on Mideel right now, and if not in Mideel on Goblin and or Round Island." More blood rushed to her face, anger increasing. "What's up?" she demanded.

Reno shrugged lazily, still turning the nightstick over in his hand. "Hey there Princess, calm down. The President is still our boss. He told Rude to follow you. He traveled separately."

Yuffie's frown turned into an angry pursing of lips. "That doesn't explain what _you're_ doing here."

Reno held his hands up in front of him, lazily in surrender. "Whoa, whoa there. Alright, well when you got in that car crash, Rude couldn't be right behind you on that road. By the time he caught up…well, you were gone and Strife was all mashed up in the car."

Yuffie swore her heart stopped, her blood stopped pumping. She froze with every muscle and tendon down to her toes tightening. "…And…Cloud?"

"Rude hauled him out. Called me in. Your boy's fine. Banged up, sure, broken ribs, sure, but fine? Yea."

Yuffie's eyes churned like storm clouds. "He betrayed me. _Us._" She said.

Reno shrugged. "That's life."

Yuffie looked up. "Maybe where you come from."

Reno laughed, more like a bark, a bitter release of breath. "Right, babe, you come from Wutai. Honor and all that shit. Well you ain't in Wutai anymore, babe. In the slums, where _I'm_ from, you do what you need to do so that _you_ survive. You don't give a flying fuck about anyone else, because in the end, it gets you killed. If you're given the choice to save your mama and two baby siblings or yourself, you choose yourself. There ain't no such thing as honor and glory in the slums."

Reno leaned in, eyes intense and trained on her stubborn grays. "And guess what? You're living _my_ life now, doll, because living in the slums is survival, plain and true. There ain't no such thing as honor and glory anymore, Princess, 'cause we're in the wild now."

Grey eyes met aquamarine orbs stonily, and the air between them seemed about to crackle with the heat traveling. She sneered and yanked away, face setting in anger and determination.

"The rest of the world can live like savages, but I'm not going to be them. I'm not going to be them, because look what happened. I'm not going to be them, Reno." She looked up, eyes harsh. "I'm not going to be _you_."

He glared at her. The tension in the room was thick enough to skate on.

"Always the the hero, huh?" Reno growled. "Well I ain't a hero, _babe_, and by the end of this, you ain't gonna be either."

They glared at each other, increasing the tension until it was hard to breathe for the thickness in the air.

"So are we gonna figure out where this door goes or what?" He finally said, but rather than cracking the tension, it poured another layer of thickness to the air.

Turning, she lifted her head and strode towards the door, Reno a shadow behind her. Reaching out, she pulled open the door and walked into the blackness, weapon at the ready, reaching out for a light switch. Reno came in behind her, keeping the door open to keep any remaining light in and reveal any possible enemies.

Yuffie flicked the switch.

The lights came to life with a low hum, buzzing as they flickered ever so subtly. The lights cast eerie shadows dancing across the walls. Yuffie's brow furrowed as she looked around.

They were in a room that reminded her of a submarine, because the walls and floor and ceiling were all metal. And all along the long wall in front of her were large circular doors, tall enough to fit Reno sitting on Rude's shoulders with room to spare. The doors curved out, metal and reminding her of the pods at the Nibelheim reactor. Walking up to one, she read the print stamped across in red.

"Midgar…" she said, and realized where this was going. She looked at the next one over, and knew she was right. "Junon…" she read.

The other doors said Costa de Sol, Mideel, Icicle Inn, Kalm, Gongaga, Goblin Island and Round Island.

"No way…" Reno said, looking at the wall. "These can't lead all the way to these places…"

"There were transport tunnels from Midgar out…" Yuffie said. "God, it must be a long distance, but tons more direct than going by land. Plus, transporting patients or certain items…it must have been most convenient."

Yuffie noticed, with a smirk, there was no tunnel going to Wutai.

And Reno just leaned against the wall behind her, watching her every move.

Something flickered in her mind, and she frowned, but suddenly her lips curved upwards. In a move like a flash, Yuffie abruptly turned around pressed a blade to Reno's throat. "You never explained why _I'm_ being followed."

Reno just looked her straight in the face, almost amused. "You're not going to kill me," he finally said. "Especially not by slitting my throat."

The almost singsong way he said the last part caught Yuffie. She regarded him carefully.

"That's right, Princess," he said, voice husky but gloating. "I know why you never show your neck - or at least that part. Never wear a non-turtleneck without a choker or makeup, I'm told."

She touched the choker at her neck.

"I saw a picture. It really isn't all that noticeable, just like another line on your neck."

She had stepped back, but she rammed him up against the wall. "You," she growled, "have no business knowing that."

Reno smirked. "But I do, Princess, and there ain't a thing you can do about it."

"How did you find out?" she demanded.

"Files, Princess, files. I looked for ones with your name on it after that Auhncore plant accused you in public, and came across a medical report."

Yuffie noticeably relaxed. "What was…in it?" she asked, carefully.

"Your injury and recovery." He seemed to read her mind. "But not how it happened." Reno looked a little peeved.

Yuffie smirked. "Alright Turk, here's how it's gonna play. You're going to take this tunnel right on over to Mideel, and you aren't going to follow me anymore - no one is. Or I'll lose you so fast all you'll have to remember me is a sneeze from the dust I kicked up."

Reno shrugged. "Fine."

"And I'm going to keep searching the Continent."

"Going to one of these tunnels?"

Yuffie shook her head. "No…" she said, and looked up. "I have another place in mind."

* * *

Cloud had wanted to leave, but _no_. They had to be satisfied that he could walk, talk, flirt, laugh, giggle and gossip like a woman. And now, when Hooters and her friends crowded the doorway, waving, Cloud felt like he was going to drop dead of shame and embarrassment right there. Of course, you couldn't walk out in the slums in the dress he'd been wearing, for it would get dirty and you were immediately a suspicious character and a target for theft, rape, etc. He flicked his long blonde hair behind his shoulder, a habit they'd managed to install him with in a mere four hours. So, they'd dressed him like many gorgeous women in the slums dressed like; a whore. He wore stilettos, fishnets that somehow managed to make his legs look less...manly, an _itsy bitsy_ barely-covered-his ass black skirt and a red tank top with a v neckline that made his fake-boobs pop out.

He was dying, or he better be.

On Rude's arm, he glared with all the fervor he could muster at Rude. "Now why the hell am I dressed like this?" he hissed.

Rude paused, but for once, he answered. "There is a woman."

Cloud glared. "Me or someone else?" he asked sarcastically.

Rude didn't respond. "When she was a teenager, fifteen years old, she was raped. That women is now the Head of the Information Branch at Auhncore."

"And why should I care?"

Rude didn't acknowledge him. "The Information Branch isn't nearly as innocent as it sounds. It uses whatever it needs to get its information, and even makes use of people with moral standards rather like the Turks. This woman knows everything Top Secret, everything she can be bothered with. Everything she can cram in, just as she does the so many file cabinets, she stores in her mind. And it just so happens she had some information that we need."

"Who is 'we'?" Cloud demanded, immediately suspicious.

Rude did not answer.

"Who is 'we'?"

"You will thank me."

"So I fail to see why I'm dressed up as a woman."

Rude didn't look over. "She was raped at fifteen. She hasn't trusted men since. Not completely. She can work under them, she can work with them, she can be their boss, and she can even manage to respect some of them. But trust is hard earned, and there are very few men who have it from her. Very few."

Cloud saw where the story was going. "So you want to use woman me to get this information?"

"Yes. But it is not that simple. Man or no, her trust is hard earned - just something closer to possible for women. You are going to get to know her, get to be her friend enough that she invites you to one of her 'woman's nights' which are like parties, minus the men. Much like a grown up sleepover."

"Why can't you just sneak in?"

"She keeps a copy of every file below her house. Auhncore underground tunnels lead there, since her house is in one of the cleared Sectors, Number Three, which has become the Sector of the rich and famous."

"And how am I supposed to become friends with her overnight?"

Rude looked up. "Not overnight. But we have studied her. We know the qualities of her best of friends, what she would be sympathetic to, what she is suspicious of, what makes her hate you."

"And?"

"For starters, you are a rape victim. But you are not upfront about this. You are a subdued flirt, one in the past before your rape, now just one who eyes men from very far and gives the occasional smile or wave. You do not come out to her about this. She will ask you, eventually, curious to your odd, contradictory behavior towards men. You will be evasive, but she will pull it out of you.

"You will be loyal. You will offer to help, and be punctual - being early would be seen to her as trying to hard, and be witty and only slightly sarcastic."

Cloud's head spun.

"Your name is Nichole - Nikki - Bennett, and you will meet her in four days at an Auhncore Ball. You will be accompanying a rich young man who applied to the escort service of the Honeybee Inn."

"Wait. Why would a rape victim be an escort?"

"He ended up speaking to my friend back there, who set him up with a well-off girl moving to Midgar from Mideel. Not an escort."

Cloud shrugged. "Farfetched."

"And Rude?"

The man looked over, sunglasses still on.

"I'll never forgive you."

Rude actually smirked. "I know."

Cloud glared, eyes narrowed. "I hate you."

"I don't see why," Rude was all seriousness again, staring straight ahead though a hint of a smirk played around the corner of his mouth, "You've done it before."

* * *

_"Cid?" A tired, groggy voice came._

_Cid whirled around to see Shera, wearing an overlarge tee-shirt as her nightclothes pad into the kitchen, feet clad in mismatching socks. The shirt, he saw, had a faded 'ShinRa Space Program' logo with a rocket and the sky and stars stretching overhead. His heartstrings were tugged at, but for once, it wasn't because of the memory of his lost dream._

_"Shera," he said, freezing. _

_Then, as her sleep induced stupor wore off, her eyes widened. "Cid!" she exclaimed and ran at him, and wrapped her arms around him. He hugged her to him tightly, and he shut his eyes tight, pain that wasn't physical lining his face. She let go and gently, he pressed his lips to hers._

_They hadn't landed in Midgar immediately. They all said they wanted to stay, to help, but they had things to do, business to settle. So Cid flew them around, Yuffie to Wutai to bury the hatchet with her father, Vincent to Nibelheim where he disappeared, and just as they were losing hope, he reemerged. He didn't tell anyone what he'd done, but later Yuffie (for some odd reason, he talked to the brat) told them he smelled like smoke and had wood splinters in the crevice of his shoes. He'd finally confessed. He'd destroyed the coffin. He was hiding something else, however, because Cid had seen him leaving the mansion on chocobo and heading for a certain cave. But he'd said nothing. Barret had been taken to Kalm, where he greeted his daughter in tears, though he later denied it furiously. The tears at least. Nanaki went to Cosmo Canyon, where he performed a proper funeral for Bugenhagen. Tifa and Cloud, however, had nothing, no where. Floating, lost, but Cid wasn't. He'd gone to Rocket Town where Shera had come outside to greet him, and he'd kissed her._

_And proposed._

_Now she wore a little ring on her left ring finger._

_He grabbed her left hand. He wasn't much sentimental, but he looked at the ring, and frowned._

_She saw his frown and her lips turned down._

_"I heard…I saw on the news…" her brow was creased in worry._

"_You weren't supposed to wake up." He told her and shook his head. He flicked a cigarette into his mouth and toyed with it._

_Shera looked at him supiciously, eyes narrowing. "So what were you doing?"_

_He heaved a sigh. "I was leaving, Sher."_

_She stared._

_"I can't stay, Shera. I'm a wanted man now. I just came to get some stuff I needed and go into hiding and figured it'd be best if you didn't-"_

_But he didn't finish, because a resounding slap filled the room._

_It was the first time Shera had ever shown anger towards him. He looked at her shocked and touching his red cheek, incredulous._

_Her eyes were alight with rage, her cheeks flushed with anger and she was shaking with the intensity of it. All these years and he realized he'd never seen the meek Shera so angry, never seen the brilliant woman angry at all. Even all the ways he verbally abused her, punishing her by making her an unpaid servant, punishing her for spoiling his dream when she was really saving his life. Tank Number Eight._

_"You think that?" she exploded, furious. "You think it would have been better if I never had seen you? You think that…you think that it would be best for me?" _

_She was furious._

_And Cid, incredulously, found himself thinking that she was _hot _when she was angry._

_"You didn't think that, Cid High wind, if you even thought. You think that it would have been better for me to wake up to find all your stuff gone and just a news story of how they want you dead? Is that what you thought?"_

_Cid frowned._

_"Maybe I didn't." he admitted. "Maybe I just thought…If I saw you…"_

_Her rage was melting, but her cheeks were still flushed and her eyes still fierce._

_"I wouldn't have the strength to leave you again."_

_And the rage was gone, melted, and she was meek and she was beautiful and her eyes were welling but he couldn't see them fall because he wouldn't be able to turn around again._

_"I need to tell you something-" she said, but he shook his head._

_"Naw. Don't say it, don't say anything more, Sher, cause if you do, I don't think I could leave."_

_"But-" she said, and her eyes were full of urgency. But he shook his head._

_"Please, Sher," he said, and she looked shocked._

_He'd never said please to her._

_Never._

_"Now I haven't given you half of what you deserve," he said, "But I will marry you one day, I promise you that."_

_She pressed her lips together, a nervous tick. "Promise?" she asked, all meek and mouse and gentle._

_"Sure as hell."_

_"Surer than hell, Cid, cause that ain't so sure at all." She said._

_That was the first time she'd strayed from her formal speech. He couldn't help but stare at her and grin. He laughed._

_"Well fuck, woman, you drive a hard bargain. Sure as the sky is blue and sure as that fucking Tank Number Eight was screwy."_

_She smiled. "That's better."_

_So he walked around the house and gathered what he needed, and she stood in her socks and overlarge tee-shirt and demurely picked at the hem. Finally, he had what he needed. Cid wasn't much for sentimental goodbyes, so he walked to the door and opened it. He couldn't look back, and he couldn't say anything, because there was a lump in his throat and her gaze on his back and he knew she understood._

_So he walked straight out that door, and he got in his airship that he knew he wouldn't be able to use much longer, and he looked back at that little house._

_"See you in another life." he said and the airship rose into the air._

* * *

They were here again.

She heard them ripping through the house, destroying everything, anything for a clue, for something about him, something about her. Now she heard her heart pound in her chest, thinking that maybe one of the men paused, paused and swore they heard a heart beating, like in Poe's The Telltale Heart. But while she may entertain a notion of two from time to time, she scolded herself. This was not the time for this. But this room she sat in, curled up, hardly made her feel comfortable. It was not too small, about the size of an average sized bathroom. But all around was metal, sheets of metal forming this box. One wall had been turned into a pantry, with doors that opened to shelves of canned food and other substances that wouldn't rot. There was also tons of water, and even a tap coming from the wall that could be used. A corner with a showerhead was the shower, with harsh water intended to scour you clean. First it would douse you in a harsh soap that doubled as shampoo (not well, though) and then it would spray the harsh water on, all left to swirl to the drain right below the shower. She could only speculate why it was there. Otherwise, the room was unfurnished, leaving her curled on the cold floor.

She knew she wouldn't be able to stay here longer. They were coming even more frequently now, suspicious, for she had not taken effort to hide that she was living here. They knew she was alive, and they knew. They knew, and that was dangerous, and they wanted her. So now she would have to leave it, this house she had spent years in, forming bad memories and good. And she would miss it, for the tools and metal and equipment scattered hap hazardously around, miss it for that scent of tea and grease that always hung in the air, miss it because most of all, it was his and it was hers.

But now it was dangerous and she would have to leave all that behind to protect them. And she shook as she stood and her knees nearly gave out, but she waddled weakly over to the pantry and loaded up her rucksack with tons of water and plenty of food and she was shaking all over because she was not him, she was not them. She was not a hero.

But she heard them banging above, heard them from her secret place under the washing machine and she faced that giant hatch door in the wall and she turned it and she swung it open and finally faced that door and finally faced that passage she never dare step in and she finally faced that darkness and she finally let it devour her as she stepped up and in.

Because Shera was no hero.

But now, for once, she had to be.

**A/N:**Hey! I'm back, and sorry for such a long wait! I only just got slightly ahead of this chapter, but figured it would be cruel to keep you waiting. Short chapter, not my favorite, lots of dialogue and plan making, except the last part.

Here, we discover that our mystery assailaint was none other than Reno. Shocker, I know. And so very anti-climatic, too.

About the Title: Very simply that this chapter features our non-heroes of the story, Shera and even Reno, and that heroes aren't always wearing shining armor. No, sometimes they wear drag. With fake boobs. So they aren't heroes, or they aren't the heroes they thought they were, and that heroes don't always feel like one.

About the Quote: Changed this. Pretty self explanatory. Just fits with the theme of the chapter. Yes, My Chemical Romance, Welcome to the Black Parade. Guilty as charged.

I like the end of this chapter, the parts with Cloud and Rude, and Yuffie and Reno are pretty much transition scenes. Sort of. Cloud and Rude set the scene for Cloud's 'mission,' of sorts, which actually does have a purpose beyond dressing Cloud up as a woman. I swear! Anyway, we also discover that Yuffie doesn't like to show her neck. Hmm? Any guesses?

Well, leave your thoughts, comments, and I'll try not to make ya'll wait so long for the next update!

.Kit.Kat.

P.s. - I changed the quote! It fits.


	13. Odds and Ends

**Chapter 12**

Odds and Ends

_You do not know how much they mean to me..._

_and how rare and strange it is..._

_a life composed so much of odds and ends… _

Skye Strife was a lovely woman.

Most were certain that her sons delicate and some of his almost feminine looks came from her. Her eyes were clear blue, blonde lashes long, light and feathery. The color was natural, he knew, from the other women's gossip and jealous mutterings. She'd been the center of gossip the years before and after her son was born, before she died of out the public gossip, the less she talked to the public. In the years of New Nibelheim, when the ShinRa actors were pushed out and became normal people, when people moved to the quaint town, when she returned, she not only reentered public gossip.

She became it.

They'd forgotten about her, about her charisma, about her charm and her way of looking you in the eye and being able to seduce you, and seduction was not always sexual. Sexual seduction was not nearly as dangerous as the other kind, the kind of seduction where you could make a person trust and love you, make them follow you blindly using only words and actions. Skye Strife had perfected the art in the many years since she'd been only a girl, when the most dangerous thing her charm had been used for was charming the local liquor store owner to let them have a bottle, or not notice as they walked it out.

She had gone beyond mere alcohol tricks now.

So it wasn't understandable that this visitor to Nibelheim was regarding her with general distrust.

"What did you say your name was?" she smiled, sky blue eyes trained on his.

"Jason Damos." He said without any thought, yet without any effort to convince her.

She laughed lightly, and placed the teacup and saucer in front of her. "And your _real _name?" she asked, teasing as she sat down.

He looked at her blankly. "Parker." He said, and she smiled.

"Better." She said, and sat. "Now, why didn't you just say that in the first place?"

"Because now I know how to lie to you." He said calmly.

If it sent her off guard - which it did - she didn't show it. Quickly she regained her footing, and sipped her tea, lowering her eyes into her tea until she set it down.

"What brings you to Nibelheim on a dying chocobo, Parker?"

He looked at her levelly, and the corner of his lip twitched down in a frown.

"You." He told her.

"You're a talkative one," she teased.

"Your name is Skye Strife."

"So I'm told." The corner of her lips tugged upwards, teasing yet gentle and slightly flirtatiously, looking as if Parker was the most amusing thing to happen to her in a long time.

"When you were seventeen years old, a new teacher came to your school, from Junon. Mr. Strife. Ten years older than yourself. At seventeen years old, you fell in love with Mr. Strife. At seventeen and a half you managed to seduce Mr. Strife into having a relationship although he was an upstanding man. Not to say it was one sided, not at all. At eighteen and 7 months you got pregnant, and at nineteen, you had a boy.

"At eighteen, your parents pressed statutory rape charges. Mr. Strife fled the town."

Skye stared at him. "And what business of this of yours?" she asked, though there was some bite in her pleasant tone.

"Because I know what you're planning to do."

Charming eyes turned to stone.

"And I just wanted to tell you that it isn't going to help."

Her eyes narrowed.

"It won't make him love you." Parker said softly. "He doesn't care about you, Skye. He never has."

Skye Strife had turned into something ugly, reminding him strangely of a monster of mythology that looks like a beautiful woman, only to turn into a scaly, ugly monster. "He_ loved_ me." She hissed.

She glared. "Get out."

He stood.

He left.

* * *

"Hey," a female voice came as he was peeling off his uniform, and Vincent turned.

A brunette-haired girl stood in the doorway, her hair pulled back and face practically glowing in the sunlight that streamed through the glass door and windows. She smiled with closed lips, containing her laughter before she finally broke and laughed. She walked towards him and slung her arms around his neck. He couldn't help stiffen for a moment, for his shirt was unbuttoned and she was _touching_ him without a clue of who he actually was, and after a while one should get used to it, but he hadn't. Still, he easily rested his hands on her hips and grinned.

She lifted her head to meet his eyes and they moved into brush lips and they kissed, and he felt so guilty, so dirty, so wrong, because for the past few months she'd been living a lie, and he could never, ever tell her.

She turned and fell down onto the bed, pulling him with her. He knew this dance too well, and she pulled at him, pulled off his shirt, and he let her, but then he pulled up.

And she smiled at him, though her eyes glinted and he grinned at her and rolled off, sitting on the edge and puling on the shirt again, and she laughed, lying there and she laughed. Her eyes shone with love and adoration, and he felt guilty because she'd been through so much grief after the accident, and he knew he couldn't keep this charade up much longer.

She leaned up and lazily slung her arms around his neck, leaning back and tilting back her head, laughing lightly. Leaning up, she gazed at him. There was a flicker in her love and a frown tugged at the smile, and her brow furrowed ever so slightly. Then with a flick of the head, a shaking, it was gone.

Those were the times when she was really looking at him, really looking for once like few did, and she thought she saw something different, something off about his eyes, about his expression, something wrong about the shape of his nose, or the form of his lips. The moments when she thought there was something weird about the way his hair fell, not like it used ot, something different about his skin tone and sometimes she thought his eyes looked dead. Those few times when she thought she saw something different, she shook it off and told herself she was crazy, that he'd changed after the accident. Things were different now.

Those were the times that made his heart skip a beat, because everything depended on it.

"I love you," she said, and rested her chin on his shoulder and smiled up at him.

He forced a smile. "I love you too."

She stood up to go get something to eat, having no idea that before he became Brody Bright, he hadn't said those words for thirty-one years.

* * *

Yuffie released the tight, knot up tension in a full body release. Her shoulders slumped, her arms and legs turned to jelly and she allowed her knees to buckle and drop her onto the ground. She took great heaving breaths as if she'd run a marathon, and stared straight up at the endless blue above her.

Now that Nibelheim was behind her, she could breathe again. Probably not the best move to do so in the middle of an open field, but she didn't care. All that was behind her - Cloud's mom, burned mansion, Vincent's pictures, Hojo's Ultra Super Secret Lab Numero Two, dissected man and Reno the fart-head. All of it was released as soon as the harsh cobblestones gave way to soft grass. But now, she had a new challenge.

There was no way she was renting or stealing a chocobo in such a small town. So as she finished her great breaths she rolled over onto her stomach and stared up at her destination.

Lucrecia's cave.

Now, the problem was that without a Green (mountain) chocobo, or a black or gold, she would have to climb up there manually. This wasn't an issue for the climbing part, since when she was younger she'd climbed up Dao Chao before that path was so nice and wide. Though it was a steep slope here, she could accomplish it, but it would be draining and if someone recognized or caught her, climbing up a steep slope manually did not make for good getaway. But she'd take her chances.

She stood up and walked across the empty plain to the cliff. She made no sound as she walked, only the natural sounds of wind and the occasional animal noise breaking through. Though as she finally reached the bottom of the cliff, she tilted her head up and thought she could hear a faint sound of water roaring.

By the time she reached the top, her fingernails were bloody and broken, her fingertips red and raw and her nose scraped from a scuffle with a rock face. But she hoisted herself up, much like one would pull oneself out of a pool, and perched on the top in a squat. There wasn't a very flat place, but just for a moment, she was on top of everything.

She could see down into the cave and beyond it. In the distance she could see the desert and the looming shape of the Gold Saucer, seeming dead without its colorful lights and bright atmosphere. She could see the fringe of the blue ocean, separating land masses from each other, destroying unity and creating pride in patriotism. She almost froze as she thought of what loomed behind her. She knew that if she turned around, she could see the town she fled, but beyond that, she'd be able to see the stretch of the ocean, and just beyond that she might be able to see the rise of a land that she couldn't go back to, not now, maybe not ever.

No. Not never. She couldn't think of that. After all, this couldn't go on her whole life.

Then again, she frowned, who knew how long her life would last.

She knew that just behind her was her homeland, which she couldn't return to. Thus, she looked down the slope and carefully started her descent. She didn't turn around.

At the bottom, rather than move around the rock wall so she would contact the ground, she tossed her backpack onto the ground, grinned and jumped off and into the deep. She plunged under, her latest simple clothes of a white camisole and cotton black shorts sticking to her, and she opened her eyes. Of course, she'd seen under the lake before, from the view of a submarine, but never like this. Not that it was much different from other lakes, just strangely less murky. In fact, it was crystal clear until shadows hid the bottom, which was eerie enough in itself. This, however, was what allowed her to see to the very bottom.

And that's what caught her eye.

Still holding her breath, a puzzled expression formed as she squinted down, as she could see the bottom, but not clearly. Pausing, she blew some bubbles just to make sure she knew which way was up, and followed them to the top. As her head broke though, she swam over to the edge and grabbed her pack. Fishing through the bag, she found her materia pack and dug through it until the tell-tale pink of Underwater materia was in her hands. Pulling herself out, she brought her right knee up towards her body. She unlaced her orange sneakers and pulled off socks that weren't the most pleasant smelling. Then she turned to the matter of her right ankle; around it was a black gauntlet of sorts, looking rather like an ankle brace; save for the shiny balls of magic lined up along the side. Pulling out a Time materia, she replaced it with the Underwater materia. She debated about leaving her Conformer behind or not, but hid it with her backpack and dove into the lake.

Nothing was quite so surreal as the feeling of being underwater with the Underwater materia. The magic in the materia actually altered her lungs so that the need for oxygen was replaced with the need and ability to filter water. Though there was a general misunderstanding with the general public that being able to breathe water was the only effect. No, Yuffie knew firsthand that Underwater materia did more, and she shivered as a subtle change went over her body. Her skin hadn't changed so much visibly, but was odd and rubbery to the touch, having been made into something water slid easily off of and didn't weight down. You see, it was more than being able to breathe underwater - it was being able to swim deeper and better. Not that she liked this effect, because it was even more unnatural. She breathed in deep to feel the water fill her lungs, and get used to the strange feeling. Shaking it off, she moved aside water and swam deeper, legs kicking to propel her down. Of course, water pressure increased and her ears popped, but Underwater materia would protect her from being harmed by extreme water pressure, if there would be any repercussions. So her body gradually adjusted to the pressure, and she managed to swim down, deeper than she would have with her normal feet and hands. At last, she came to the object that had grabbed her attention, and gave a watery gasp.

'It' was a small airplane.

Or, more specifically, the Tiny Bronco.

From the air it had gone to floating on the seas, and now it had sunken to the bottom. Yuffie grimaced as she remembered the very wing she had sat on, keeling over, nose inches from the ocean. Yuffie regarded it sadly, seeing how the red paint had fainted, and water scum grown on it. She swam over to the pilot's seat, and looked down into it.

Her brow furrowed and she reached into the seat, and her deft fingers wrapped around the handle of silver briefcase, surrounded by pond scum and other gross things as such. Pulling it up, she inspected it, and decided there might be more to this story of the Tiny Bronco under the lake than she thought. Had she thought? No, she just remembered the Bronco disappearing when they had been forced to leave it, and how pissed Cid had been. He'd cussed up a storm, and she cracked a small smile as she remembered him storming around like a kid refused in a toy store. But then she remembered Barret accusing Cid of acting like _her_, and the smile went away. Still, it was like a big family they had, and she couldn't help missing them even if they were stupid and insulting and they ruffled her hair like she was some little kid and made fun of her shoes. She missed them anyway, because she was stupid and obnoxious and played and braided with Red's mane and Vincent's hair and made fun of how they didn't bring razors with them and all looked like wooly mammoths by the time she met them.

But now wasn't the time.

So she swam around the Tiny Bronco, inspecting every inch, under the wings and all around. The glove department had a few odd items she recognized as Cid's, and one materia that she took, but was just a measly Level 1 Fire. She could sell it, though, if not for anything else. In the glove compartment was also a picture that was too destroyed to make out, a box of cigarettes that was in a plastic bag, which had protected it, a few simple repair tools and other odds and ends. But she found nothing else of importance, so she hefted the briefcase and swam to the top, lugging it with her. When her head finally broke water, she felt the Underwater materia releasing it's effects, and she gasped in the air, the oxygen feeling odd to her lungs, like after you cough up a lot of water. Speaking of which, she ended up coughing out the last remains of the water that she hadn't breathed out, until her lungs were H2O free. Heaving the briefcase onto land, she pulled herself out of the lake.

Looking back on it, she realized she'd never been in it before. Because it was Lucrecia's lake. It was sacred, holy, glittering and settled, and it was Vincent's lake, so they hadn't touched it. But she had, and she found it almost fitting that she would be the one to ruin Vincent's perfect lake. Satisfied and smirking, she turned to the briefcase.

Slick and silver, it was obviously expensive - a Halliburton, actually. A ZERO Halliburton Attaché briefcase, and reportedly a ridiculously hard lock to pick. Yuffie had to grin wickedly, for the briefcase itself was challenging her with its very existence - because no one left a briefcase in an abandoned, sunken plane if it didn't have something important in it.

Well. It looked like Yuffie had another piece of luggage to bring with her.

But that wasn't the issue at hand now, so Yuffie picked up her pack and her briefcase (it was hers now - finders keepers, losers suck it), and she stared straight at the pounding waterfall. Wasn't like she wasn't already wet. So she walked towards it and flattened herself against the wall for the ledge she knew was there, and edged along behind the waterfall, a weak stream of water hitting her head and the other water splattering her. She smiled and she slunk around to the cave behind the waterfall.

And before she could even turn and take her first steps in, there was the barrel of a gun against her head.

Or, at least, that's what she wished would have happened. Because if Vincent had been in here, that's what would happen. So it was with sadness that she walked into the cave, and never more had she wanted to stare down the barrel of gun, and she wished that he had been here, because she loved it when the obvious was _right_. But it wasn't, she knew that she hadn't really expected him to be here. Because Vincent knew that this would be obvious for AVALANCHE, and if she knew anything about him (and she liked to think she did) he wouldn't want _anyone_ - including AVALANCHE, especially AVALANCHE - to find him. But that wasn't the only reason she'd came.

Walking into the cave, she stepped into the wide open part and looked around.

Her heart leapt.

She was right! She was so right, because even if he wasn't here now, he _had _been. And she had the best proof of all, because in the corner, laying neatly on a rock was something she knew so well. It defined Vincent, and while seeing it made her feel happy, it brought a strange realization. On the rock was Vincent's crimson cloak, and seeing it meant two things:

1. He'd been here, because no one else would have put it there so neatly, and no one else would have been able to _touch_ that cloak.

2. Vincent was out there, somewhere, and he wasn't wearing his cloak.

And that was so strange, because while she knew he couldn't be parading around with his signature cloak and long, tangled hair, it was weird to think of him without it. He didn't take it off, and that he had now made this whole thing so much more real. Sure, she hadn't thought it was all a game of dress up, but for some reason this really hit home. This made her feel strangely exposed and uncomfortable, because Vincent didn't look like Vincent anymore, and when something so solid and so unchanging up and changed, what could you hold onto anymore? Suddenly, this vision she had of finding him made her feel so stupid, because he wasn't going to look like himself. Red eyes wouldn't tip her off anymore, because he wouldn't be stupid enough not to hide him.

Really, how dumb was she? To really find him, it wouldn't be that easy. Who knew if she would recognize him? He didn't half-ass anything, so why would she think it would be easy. Finding him, which had seemed so attainable, suddenly seemed so unrealistic.

Then again…she'd found Cid, hadn't she? She'd recognized him from one tic, one thing, and she'd known. She _knew_ these people. She'd find him. Like that, she was so sure again, because that's how she operated, always so sure, always so confident. Maybe it was that false ease that came with being young and foolish, or maybe it was just her. Whatever it was, real or false, she needed the reckless confidence to carry on, even if it carried her right off a cliff. She didn't care. She'd find him, if she had anything to say about it.

So she walked over to that cloak, and she thought that she would be shaking or something, something melodramatic as she picked it up. But she wasn't. She just picked it up, like any other article of clothing. It was so forlorn in her hands, limp and representing everything he had been. There it was, that red weight on his shoulders, and maybe that was ironic, because he always acted like the world, all the sins were on his shoulders. A weight. But he'd taken it off, and he was _somewhere,_ he _was_, and she'd find him. A decision was made without her realizing it was made, and she stuffed all that cloth, all that weight into her pack, filling up the rest of it. So that was that.

Yet she didn't leave yet, for some reason. She scoured the cave for something left behind, a materia, a potion, something, and finally she came to the crystal.

How long had he stood here, brooding? How long had he stood at Lucrecia's crystal and stared, how long had he stood in this very spot? But maybe that wasn't the right question.

How long had it taken for him to turn around from this very spot and leave her behind?

Because he had, and she felt a strange pride for him, because she knew and he must have known that he wouldn't - he couldn't - come back here. Yet he _had_ left, he hadn't just waited for them to come, and strange as it sounds, it was something he would do. But no, he'd left and he was fighting - sort of. He was resisting, not just 'accepting his fate,' or something dumb like that. He was resisting, and she was proud, because it meant he'd changed at least a little, and it meant that there was still hope. Because if he'd left here - and here was where he would wait - it meant that he was still out there. Because Vincent wasn't going to go down easy, and _they _hadn't caught him, which meant he was out there.

He was, and she would find him.

So following in his very literal footsteps, she turned and left the cave. Because if he was out there, she _could_ find him. She'd always been able to find him when he hadn't wanted to be found, and now wouldn't be any different.

She'd find him. Dying trying wasn't an option.

* * *

Yuffie managed to scale the cliff once more, only the opposite side this time, even though the sun was nearly set by the time she was near the bottom. She was a climber, but it was a steep cliff, and these things took time. So by the time she got off the cliff and stumbled into the town of Corel, she was dry again yet dirty and cut up. For the climb down she'd tied the briefcase around her waist with a length of rope, and though untied now, the rope and given her a burn from rubbing back and forth, even with clothing between her skin and the rope. So miserable, yet still holding the briefcase tightly she walked into the town.

In the short time he'd had, Barret had started the rebuilding effort. Apparently Auhncore had taken over, and they hadn't done half bad, she'd admit. The town had gone from a depressing little-more-than-a-campsite to almost an actual small town, with real houses and even a playground separate from the school. Corel was still a little beaten up, still retained some of its look from before, but it was almost there.

It was awkwardly she walked into town, feeling wary at this unfamiliar town and holding the briefcase up in front of her stomach as though it was a protective shield. Of course, the Conformer was strapped in a covering case on her back (it was too unique of a weapon to go unshielded), consequently making her hang her pack on one shoulder. But that didn't mean she was weaponless, as she did have a knife, throwing stars and daggers on her person, and in her pack was a gun, in her pack for the sole reason she wasn't a fan of guns. She also could do hand-to-hand combat, as she was trained, though nowhere near Tifa's ability. Not even close. Yet she needed none of the hidden weapons, as she found the inn safely. She rented a room under some false name with a set of false IDs she'd lifted off some poor sap in Nibelheim.

So after locking the doors, shutting curtains and shutting and locking the bathroom door (all her stuff in the bathroom with her, of course, she took a long overdue shower.

Climbing out and wrapping a fuzzy towel around her, she proceeded to handwash the few outfits she'd accumulated. She knew that she'd have to leave some of them behind, keeping an outfit of short black shorts, boots, a white camisole and a black sweatshirt, and other outfits that A) she could fit in the pack and B) Had proven useful before. So washing them and her bra and underwear, she hung the clothes in the shower, turning on the fan. Except the underwear and bra, which she dried with the hairdryer and put on. Some outfits that had accumulated were put in the garbage can, having been one time things. So in underclothes she dumped out the rest of her pack, deciding what was to be kept, and what had to go.

The crimson cloak spilled out, and she looked at it before carefully folding it and placing it in front of her, forming her keep pile. With it went her materia pouch (duh), her gun, her throwing devices and her dagger, along with the bottles of water she hadn't drunk yet. She stuck those in the fridge and threw away the empty containers, along with all but two items of canned food. Also in the keep pile was a square tin container that was wider than it was tall, a set of lockpicks, rope, some potions and other such bottles, quite a few sets of fake IDs, her headband, a compass and a map. In the throw away pile were empty containers, quite a few canned goods, a newspaper, and other such things that wouldn't make sense to anyone but the person who had obtained them. Some she didn't like tossing, but when everything was placed back into the pack, there was more room than before and the pack was considerably lighter, even with all the things she carried. But before all was put away, however, she took the tin container.

It was a deep, dark cinnamon red that had worn and faded slightly, and she gingerly removed the top.

Inside was a smattering of objects that she understood each and every bit of. There were photographs, newspaper clippings, a tiny bracelet made of Starburst wrappers, a lone materia that rolled around separate of its companions, yellow and bright even after all these years. There were two cherry stems, a length of red yarn tied in a circle and a bow, as if it had been around someone's finger, an old, worn deck of cards contained with a red rubber band, a roll of film never developed, and finally there was a bullet casing. And there were so many pictures, pictures from all stages of her life so far, Polaroids, color pictures, old pictures, all sorts. There were ones from the journey, the quest, whatever you wanted to call that time when AVALANCHE met and went to save the world. Yuffie was largely responsible, getting her hands on whatever camera she could find. She liked capturing pictures, to remind her of what she'd forgotten. And she liked ones that were posed, yes, be she loved ones that were good but caught in the moment, unaware. Natural.

And at the very bottom, underneath all the pictures was an envelope, in which was an old letter, the worn in from being unfolded and folded so many times, folded in threes. And under the envelope were two pieces of paper, paper-clipped together and placed face down. But she quickly put the photos on top, covering both items.

Most recent additions were newspaper clippings. The newer ones dealt with developments on the Fugitive Heroes, sightings, developments, and things to do with Auhncore. There were quite a few articles that spoke of saving the world, the headlines included, and pictures of AVALANCHE clipped from the newspaper. But of the two oldest clippings one was titled 'ShinRa Wins War! Wutai Surrenders!' and the other was an obituary.

Taking out the pictures, she began to look through them. There was this one, of AVALANCHE all together, and there was series of black and white Polaroids. One showed two men sitting at a bar, hunched over, backs to the camera, yet obvious who they were. Another was of a brunette beauty staring across the room at a blonde with spiky hair, oblivious as he looked down at a paper, brow furrowed. And then there was one of a dark man standing in front of the cockpit of the Highwind, his back to the landscape seen through the glass, yet looking away from the camera. Then apparently Yuffie's camera had been stolen, because there was quite the attractive picture of her hunched over in the Highwind, though if you looked carefully, you'd realize she was completely oblivious to Tall, Dark and Scary standing in a dark doorway, at the very edge of the picture. And then there was another of her squinting up into the sun, shadowing her face with her hand, and Tifa realizing a picture was being taken and turning to look at the camera with quite the shocked (and funny) look on her face. There were plenty of them with stupid looks on, as result of surprise camera flashes, Polaroid or otherwise. But they made her laugh, and she had to admit, a lot of them were good pictures. There of was one of Vincent and Cid standing in front of Cid's house, leaning against the wall and staring up at the sky, and another of Barret swinging Marlene around.

Yuffie put the pictures away, putting the rest of the odds and ends on top, feeling sappy and stupid, putting the lid on, and still not understanding how something so heavy could be so light.

So putting it all away and stowing it under her bed, she decided she'd get to work on the Halliburton soon, but for now she turned off her light and hit the sack.

* * *

Mr. Auhn sat in his office, reading over the most recent development in the M Case. Finishing the report, he angrily slammed his fist down, and sighed impatiently, running a hand through his hair. Leaning forward, he jammed his intercom down. "Shelly. Shelly, get me Roberts. Get me Roberts right _now._"

"Right away, sir." Shelly said, knowing the tone enough to be slightly fearful.

She moved forward the microphone that hooked to the PA system throughout the building. Pressing the button, she leaned forward. "Roberts to Top Floor. Roberts to Top Floor immediately."

Not five minutes later the gold elevator opened, and Shelly buzzed Roberts in immediately. Sure enough Mr. Auhn was going to be impatient enough as it was. Roberts walked through the doors, and the wooden doors closed and the whir of electronic locks was familiar to Shelly's ears. She sighed. This could not bode well for Roberts.

Auhn waited his desk impatiently as Roberts strode in front of his desk and did not sit, but stood. "You wanted me, sir?"

He looked up and glared. "Yes, Jessie, what the hell is this report all about?"

Jessie sighed. Jessie Roberts was the head of Intelligence for Auhncore, a huge position. Intelligence was in charge of everything from the searches to the tortures and captivity of AVALANCHE, as well as presiding over quite a few other branches, such as the Information Branch and the Investigation Branch. Thus Jessie was overseeing the searches, her prime focus being the M Case right now. Intelligence was one of the biggest branches in Auhncore, and Jessie Roberts was in charge of it all. She had started out as quiet and soft spoken, but as she climbed the ranks got a little more backbone, and could still speak softly, but manage to capture everyone's attention. "Sir, the father won't say a word. He truly has no clue where she is. But, as it says it the paper, all we have is clues that she was living in an abandoned church. Pretty strong clues, actually, but she got away in a tunnel too small for an adult to fit into. We're tracking a ghost here, Jamison. She's a _child_. She doesn't have credit cards, she doesn't have money to spend, and no one notices children. All she has is a cell phone, prepaid and abandoned at the church with a single text message that was deleted, but we managed to recover. You'll find that in the report as well."

"Yes. The text message said 'Got him,'" Jamison said, glancing down.

"Yes." Jessie sighed. "The cell phone that it came from was also prepaid but never found. We're sure it was destroyed."

"And who this 'him' refers to?"

Jessie shifted. "We believe it refers to the man we hired, Daniel Powd, our most successful tracker of Vincent Valentine. He was found with a bullet through his brain in the bathtub of an abandoned apartment. He was tied up and all we found was a long blonde hair, that turns out to be from a wig. Real hair, but having been donated for a wig."

Jamison frowned slightly. "So are we assuming that whoever did this was female?"

"Or at least pretending to be so."

"And are we assuming that this was the work of Yuffie Kisaragi?"

Jessie didn't like what was coming. "…we are, sir."

Jamison might have looked calm to a normal person. His hands were folded and he nodded. "You mean," he said quietly, lowly, "Yuffie Kisaragi was right under our noses, right here in Midgar, and we never knew?"

"…yes, sir."

His jaw was working and a vein in his forehead was popping out. Pale blue eyes were sharp as steel and cold as ice, and he glared daggers. "When I saved you from that tower," he said, anger in his voice rising with his volume. "Didn't you promise me…" he faltered for the rage in his voice. "Did you not promise me that you were in my debt, and would do anything to repay me?"

Jessie didn't slump, stayed standing straight, but couldn't meet his eyes, instead staring down at her black heels. "Yes."

"And this," he said, voice rising to a yell. He stood up and slammed his hands on his desk as he yelled, red in the face, "is how you repay me?!"

"I'm sorry sir. We'll find them."

"All I wanted you to do was be loyal to me, Jessie, and I asked you to work for me, with me, to repay me! All I asked of you, Jessie, was to help me! I've given you a job in one of the highest positions here, I've given you money, anything you needed I gave you to Jessie! And this is what you do?"

"I'm sorry sir," she said, anger getting the better of her and adding bite to her voice. "But there was nothing we could do!"

Her tone rose, and it caught him off guard. She leaned forward and slammed her own hands on his desk. "We don't have a 'magical radar' that can track Yuffie Kisaragi, Vincent Valentine or Marlene Wallace, and we are doing the best we can! The chances of finding Kisaragi or Valentine are around zero to none! We are dealing with a man who is reputed to be the greatest Turk in history, and quite possibly the most competent, hell, the best ninja Wutai has seen, or at least will be with a few more years! So I suggest you jump off your high horse and realize that finding them isn't as easy as you wished!"

Jamison stared at her.

"We have nothing to hold over Kisaragi, and no way to contact her if we did! When we first caught Marlene Wallace, at least we could find her father to make him turn himself in! Valentine has nobody. Nobody. We're not even sure if he would care if we hurt a team member. As for Kisaragi, she has proven herself in the past to be immensely selfish, and her relationship to her father is so twisted and confusing, I'm not even sure if she would surface to protect him! It's a question of whether Kisaragi cares more about herself or Wutai, and according to what we've gotten out of AVALANCHE, she'd probably chose herself! We have nothing over these two, and every time we get a positive sighting of them, they're a million years away!"

Frustrated, Jessie turned around and walked to Jamison's mini-bar and poured herself a shot of some sort of drink, and downed it. The fire raced down her throat and she bared her teeth for a moment before frowning again. Jamison was silent.

"Forgive me Jessie. But I had wanted all of AVALANCHE in custody before we had to execute someone, but now it appears that if we don't apprehend someone soon, we're going to have to carry through with our threat. The public is losing confidence in us. I've worked so hard to get here, Jessie, we both have."

"Yes." She said, guilt weighing her down, and she hoped he couldn't hear. "I've done so much…"

Jessie had to do something. She'd been roped into building the same empire she'd rebelled against so long ago, and she was a pillar of this destruction. These findings, these murders of her colleagues, her friends would be on her hands, and that sort of bloodstain never washed off. The first to go would be Barret. Barret who was her friend, her leader, the man who had truly saved her and given her a hope again. Like a father figure, or a big brother to her, she couldn't let him die. Even if it meant she had to go in the process, she would save him.

In her eyes, she'd just be paying the debt to Death that she'd cheated a long time ago.

**A/N:** Another chapter! This one I tried to dedicate a large chunk to Yuffie, setting the tone for what is coming. Less little random sections as things begin to meet up and weave together, finally. And yes, that is a hint for (to say it blatantly) - Yuffie and Vincent meet in the next chapter. You've all been waiting, and its finally here. Aha. Hope it doesn't disappoint.

About the Title: About Yuffie's odds and ends, about the segments and all the odds and ends its bringing in (we're getting quite a pile) such as the briefcase, the cave and so on, and also supposed to incorporate odds as in 'against the odds' and 'ends' because we have a lot in this chapter of people stating the end or outcome of what someone is planning to do without explaining the event (What Skye is doing, what Jessie is doing, who Auhncore is searching for, and - of course - Yuffie's refusal to die trying). Hard to explain, but maybe you'll understand.

Jessie is alive?! What the hay? Well, yes. And her last name is Roberts. And she's working for everything she fought against. What is she going to do? And what's more, who (aside from the heroes) is Auhncore chasing down? (this one's a no-brainer)

Parker is revealed to talk to Skye Strife. What is she planning to do? And why, exactly, is the man who rented Elena her chocobo doing in Nibelheim interogating Skye? What is he really?

And Yuffie's box of odds and ends is revealed to show a deeper side to the Brat. And what exactly is in that briefcase?

Finally, Vincent has a girlfriend? Just how far is one willing to go to disguise themselves?

Find out in the next chatper of...Ahaha, just had to do the soap opera type layout. No Cloud this chapter. Or Turks. Turk deprivation this chapter.

Lastly, for hte last couple chapters I have failed to acknowledge somethign very exciting. We've gone to and above 100 reviews, in fact, nearly 150! Seeing as I'd never had over 40 before this story, this was quite big for me. Sorry I didn't acknowledge you faithful reviewers! Especially since there are now 141 reviews, 55 favs and 56 alerts, as well as nearing 10,000 hits! Whooo!

And lastly, thank you to all who reviewed the last chapter: Arctic Dragon, Aidiane Valentine, jumarien, bynon carget, Starla Blaise, Garden of Everything, In Search of Paradise, Le Pecore Nere, moonstarlight, Cookiekitten, x.chibininja, sckry, Lt. Commander Richie, and Following Padfoot's Pawprints. As well to anyone else I missed or who reviewed an earlier chapter either recently or wasn't acknowledged! Thank you!


	14. For Victory

**Chapter Thirteen**

For Victory

_Victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, __victory however long and hard the road may be; _

_for without victory there is no survival._

The next day, at noon, Yuffie found herself in a battered blue pickup truck, looking out the window as the older man who'd she'd caught a ride with drove along. He reached over and turned on the radio, and a country song came warbling through the radio. A smile flickered on her face as she remembered hearing this very song for the first time in Cid's plane-boat.

_"Well, at least the radio still works," Cid shrugged, clicking on the radio and tuning it until there was a good signal. For some reason, half-submerged boats still got radio reception in the middle of the goddamn ocean._

_Yuffie, on the other hand, did not give a rat's ass about the radio, as she was currently keeled over the sing. "Whoopdee-effing-doo." She grumbled._

_Cid, unfortunately, heard and shot a glare at her. "Well its better than listening to you barf, Brat."_

_"Or listening to you talk, Old Man." She snapped back, before her stomach threatened to revolt, and she bent over again._

_Cid ignored this, however, and turned up the volume on the country song. Yuffie, however, was not a big country fan. Already irritated, she glared up. "Turn that shit off." She gurgled, and her stomach turned._

_Cid ignored her again, and began to sing. _

_"Oh lord. Ohhhh noooo. Please Leviathan. Make it stop! Ughhh! Ew!"_

_Cid sang louder._

_"SHUT IT!" she barked, and Cid looked over at her. But instead of a look, he gave a crooked smile. _

_"Get used to it Brat. It's a classic. So just shut up and listen."_

So she hummed aimlessly along to the song, and the man smiled over at her. "Like this song?" he asked with his coal-miner accent.

Her lips pressed together as she fought a smile. "It grows on you," she said simply.

He chuckled.

That she was riding in the car was pure luck. She'd woken up that morning and put on a simple disguise: It was barely a disguise anyway; she merely put in blue contacts. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail, and she didn't bother hiding her Wutain-ness. For clothes she simply wore and jeans and a fitted white tee-shirt, and her not-so-subtle orange sneakers.

"Almost there." He said, and sure enough, the song had ended and Rocket Town was in sight. "And you still haven't told me why you're coming here."

It was true. She'd managed to distract him easily whenever he'd asked. He was there to make a delivery for another shop. He would come and be gone quickly. This was perfect for Yuffie, since he couldn't stick around and see what she was doing. She could barely remember her fake name now. Mary, was it? Or was it Annie? Annie, it was Annie.

"I'm visiting a friend of mine."

That was true enough, if Shera was still in Rocket Town. The house, she knew, had been under watch by Auhncore. Not as heavily as Yuffie's house (after all, Yuffie was a ninja in the Capital of Ninjas, and her father (no matter how weathered he was) was one too. But it was still under heavy watch, as it was one of the few real, solid homes the AVALANCHEees had - well, one of the few that had a reason for them to come back. Shera as a reason for Cid to return.

The town was large now, and within ten more minutes they were entering the town, after an excruciatingly long drive. He parked the truck and they climbed out, and she hoisted her backpack and tote bag (which hid her Conformer) and smiled. "Thanks for the ride. I have money-"

"Don't you pay me." He said, and smiled. She thanked him, and he was off. He was a delivery man/Jack of All Trades, traveled from town to town doing various deliveries and odd jobs. Soon enough he'd be off to Nibelheim, for more deliveries and 'odd jobs.'

Sure enough, a man walked up to his window, and Yuffie walked away with a smile and a wave. Without any detours, she walked straight towards Cid's house. She didn't expect him to bet here, but Shera would be. At least, she hoped. Cid, Barret, Yuffie were the only living AVALANCHE members with any family connections. Shera was Cid's wife, Marlene was Barret's daughter and Yuffie had Godo. Otherwise, the rest were pretty much alone.

So when she knocked on the door, and no one answered, she could feel her muscles tightening up. She knocked again and no answer came, so Yuffie twisted the knob.

The door was unlocked.

Pressing it in, her eyes widened and she felt her mouth drying. The house was a mess. The table was flipped and a chair smashed. Every drawer was knocked out and emptied, and every cabinet was emptied. Yuffie tiptoed her way through the kitchen, eyes wide. The kettle was knocked over on the stove, forlorn and empty for once in its life. Feeling like she was hollow, as though all of her insides had been scooped out. Because as she walked through the hallways, every pictures torn off the wall, every crevice checked, every furniture overturned or broken, as if it might have been hiding something.

As Yuffie came to the bedroom, where one last pack of cigarettes sat on the nightstand, as if Shera had been too afraid to move it. As she picked it up, and stared down, she realized something.

"They're going after the families." She said. Or at least, that's what it looked like.

Marlene had been hiding with Aeris's mom for a long time, but neither would tell Yuffie why. But if that was true, then Godo, Marlene, Shera and even Elmyra were in trouble. Feeling hollow and shocked, she walked to the last remaining room - the bathroom. They had cracked the mirror, broken the toilet and torn the room apart. Even the waste bin had been turned over, trash spilled out for analyzing. And then Yuffie saw something.

On the floor was something that made her even more speechless than before, that made her change her mind about everything she'd thought earlier. She bent down, and realizing how grossness this was but not caring, she picked up the pregnancy test.

And, as natural instinct for any woman, any human being, she looked at the indicator.

There it was.

Auhncore wasn't after the families now, they were after Shera specifically. They were after Shera because somehow, they had found out. For some reason they'd been checking up on Shera, and now they knew. They probably had Shera now, and they hadn't wanted her just because she was Cid's wife.

It was because she was pregnant.

* * *

She'd made it. Elena had finally made it, she was at the Crater, in the center where a large chunk of ice, shaped like a diamond, sat dead center. The ice was crystal-like, mako infused so that it let out a slight blue-green glow. The chocobo apparently wasn't fond of it, and Elena had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. Climbing down off Blur, the chocobo didn't move another inch. So Elena was forced to walk alone to the center, the eerie center with numb limbs and a ringing sound in her ears, wind whipping around her.

It seemed to take forever, or maybe her steps were just small, but when Elena finally reached the center, she felt heavy and old. Shaking fit to have a seizure, Elena squeezed her eyes tight. She was all alone now. No Reno or Rude to back her up, and definitely no Tseng. All alone, in the middle of the Crater, where even monsters feared to tread. Finally, she opened her eyes, and a gloved hand rested on the top of the crystal-ice. Heart racing, every sense enhanced but dulled at the same time, numb but so sharp, a buzzing in her ears she leaned forward.

But there was nothing.

Her heart slowed and her eyes filled with confusion, because there was nothing there. Her limbs were horribly aware of the cold, and it was eerie even without what she expected. She took a deep breath, though the air was thin and sharp with cold, and took a long blink. Just as she was about to turn, however, something caught her eye. Brow furrowing, she turned back to the ice and leaned forward. SO close to the crystal-ice, her nose was nearly touching it. And there it was.

There was a crack that she hadn't noticed before, starting at the center and going straight through the ice. It was a small crack, but with the look of something that had once been much larger, as if it was healing from a larger blow. But then, she realized, going straight down wasn't the crack anymore, because though the ice in the center had an odd, half-healed look to it (which made her confident there _had _been a crack), the thin, thin crack was not a crack at all. In fact, it came up out the top of the crack.

Dread filled her belly and was so poignant in the air she could taste it, but never the less, she reached to the crack, horror in her heart and mind. She removed her glove and reached down, and sure enough, it wasn't an illusion. Elena grasped the end sticking out of the crack, and gently, carefully pulled upwards. She watched in the ice, and what she'd thought was a crack pulled upwards through the ice, long and seeming never ending until the last bit came out of the crack at the top. But even as she held it in her hands, she couldn't believe it. Elena couldn't and didn't want to believe it.

She wasn't looking for this. This wasn't what she was searching for.

Yet there it was, unmistakable and so bright in its color, a single, silver hair.

* * *

Yuffie was shocked, and put the test down to wash her hands in the half-broken sink, and was stunned. At any other time, under any different circumstances, she would have been thrilled. Yuffie would be ecstatic for the couple, but right now, she couldn't be. In a haze, she walked out of the bathroom.

They had her. They had Shera because she was carrying Cid's baby, and that was a baby of a hero. Were they going to hurt it? Hurt her?

But maybe she'd gotten away.

The thought was faint and trickled into Yuffie's mind hollow and hopeless, but she looked through the house once more. Her searches brought her to the laundry room.

The room had always been ridiculous, filled with Cid's inventions and what not, but the way they trashed it you could barely walk without cutting your foot. The only things not destroyed (because it was easy enough to see if they were hiding something) were the washing machines and dryer.

Yuffie frowned.

She didn't know why it hadn't struck her as more peculiar before, that Cid had two washing machines. Maybe it wasn't that odd, seeing as he might have been playing with each or one, or even using parts. But a peculiarity drew her to one, like a moth to a flame. In the drier were clothes, and in one washer were clothes. But not in this one.

Shera had been doing laundry when they came. No sign, no chance to get away, apparently. But as Yuffie looked at the spare washing machine, she realized there was nothing wrong with it. Nothing odd, nothing different. But no clothes.

So Yuffie looked around back. There was no plug to this machine. Though nothing seemed missing on the outside, it had never intended to be used. Looking inside again, she racked her brain. She was a ninja, goddamnit, she should find out what was so odd. Or maybe she was just paranoid or grasping at straws.

But then she saw it.

A single piece of cloth, trapped in between the wall and the shallow bottom of the washing machine. For all appearances the bottom was apart of the machine, but there was a scrap of torn clothes right in between. So, crossing her fingers, she grasped the middle part of the inside and pulled up.

It came out.

Yuffie gaped and looked down. There was a large hole where the floor was, and a ladder where the hole started. Yuffie took the scrap of cloth. It was easily recognizable as part of Shera's famous button down coat. Without another word, Yuffie climbed into the washing machine, keeping the lid up, and her feet on the ladder below. Holding onto the side, she carefully lowered herself down, and started her descent.

As she climbed down, she saw the walls were sleek, stainless steel material that reminded her of Hojo's lab, and made her shudder. What was with all these secret places she was finding? It irritated her that she was finding a whole other dimension to places she'd been to a thousand and one times. So when she finally reached the bottom of the ladder and turned around, she cursed.

Apparently these places she was finding were all connected.

Quite literally.

The place was sterile looking, with a tile floor, a drain in the middle, a shower in the corner and a pantry like wall. It was the perfect hiding place, but that wasn't what it was intended for. No, apparently it was intended to start someone off for a journey, because taking up most the wall opposite of Yuffie was large, round hatch door. A door just like the ones in Hojo's Lab #2.

Eerie it was, but there was a leap of hope; because with the scrap of coat and this discovery, and some cans and water missing from the pantry, Shera had probably gotten away. She had gotten away, and for now, Shera was safe. The baby was safe.

Or so she hoped.

She walked over to the hatch door, quite ready to follow Shera, when she thought of something. She should tell Reno. She had to.

Quite relieved, Yuffie walked to the ladder and climbed up and out of the washing machine, and with the world on her shoulders, out of the torn up house.

Once out, she could see the town in a whole new perspective. She saw the way the townspeople's eyes avoided Shera's house, and were drawn to but darted away from Yuffie now that she'd come from it. Annoyed that they could all just stand by while they knew what was happening, she whipped out her phone.

Oddly, it rang. She picked up, but the person on the other side spoke first.

"I think we've found your boy." Reno's voice crackled over the phone.

"Come get me." She demanded, propping one hand on her hip.

Reno laughed, and the sound of helicopter blades split the air. "Look up."

* * *

To say Mideel had grown would be an understatement.

The helicopter flew over the town and Yuffie disbelief blooming. In the past two years she had avoided coming here; it was an island, and a small island devoid of many caves or potential hiding places. To get here would require travel that would only make her sick, and once she was here she was stuck. If Auhncore caught her, she was pretty much out of luck. She would be trapped. As a result, she hadn't come. She'd read the paper, but she was most interested in front page news – since anything about AVALANCHE was usually up front. The occasional mention of Mideel was present, but she'd never read much about it.

She'd missed out.

The once small town turned destroyed wreck had flourished. A large factor of this growth was the famed Mideel Hospital, the best in the world. The hospital had come to fame by advertising it had treated the famous Cloud Strife for mako poisoning. 'Fit for a hero,' they would say. Even after Cloud had gone to famous to infamous, the hospital retained its fame, the new slogan being it had treated the now-fugitive Cloud Strife. She understood the room he had stayed in was never used, on display for tourists in a small museum attached to the hospital.

The second thing to make Mideel famous was the pool where the Lifestream was against the surface. It was in a huge museum, featuring the pool itself as well as tons of information on the Lifestream, on the effects of mako poisoning and much more. Apparently it was fascinating, and one of the Top Ten places to see in your life.

But Mideel had retained its small town charm, despite having extended across the island. On the edges, there were miles of beach houses, the type that stood on stilts and were rented out for weeks. Where Costa de Sol was the populated party-beach place, Mideel was the family vacation spot. Some of it had subsided to commercialism, featuring the occasional McDonalds or Dairy Queen, but not much so. It was a lazy beach town, with locals who wore ratty flip-flops and laughed at the sunscreen smeared vacationers. She could barely believe this town had been in shambles once.

"There's more along the islands. This is the biggest, but a road goes across the island. You can take a ferry to a little shopping tourist town over on one of the little islands."

"Gawd, Vin's here?" she said.

"Think so."

"There aren't any dark corners to hide in."

Reno's laughter filled the helicopter. They landed, and the two climbed out of the helicopter. Yuffie lugged out her portable disguise kit and went to the other side of the helicopter while Reno dressed up. Her eyes were made to be black, and she kept her hair, not feeling like being too elaborate. Digging into her bag, she found the bright pink bikini from the time with 'Johnny Deliah,' also known as Cloud the Traitor Leader Man Who Shall Not Be Named Because He Sucks At Life. Digging further, she found her 'neutral' bikini. Before she had purged of most her outfits at the Corel hotel, she'd had quite the selection, but she was now reduced in clothing, picking things up as she went along. Luckily, Reno had brought some outfit choices for her. After all, she needed room in her pack for wigs, hair dye, makeup, jaw implants. It was a roomy backpack. She slid her feet into white flip flops she'd grabbed in Rocket Tow. Looking around, she put on a white bikini, and over it she pulled on a green tank top Reno had brought. She decided not to use her 'fake skin,' an elaborate inventions she'd stolen early on because of her Wutain skin tone, and being Wutain wasn't enough to make people suspicious. She wouldn't get anywhere if she tried to pull off disguises all the while looking remarkably Yuffie-ish. She shoved the implants into her cheeks to change her face shape and moved her jaw around to adjust to them. Wiggling into a denim 'destroyed'-style jean skirt, she shoved the other clothes into her bag. Slipping fashionable sunglasses over her eyes, she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and went to see everyone's (not so) favorite Turk.

Reno's hair was tucked under a dirty-blonde colored wig. The hair was a surfer style that fell into his eyes, which were covered with a dark brown contact. The glow was only noticeable if you were looking for it. He wore swim trunks and a loose white shirt over it that displayed some elaborate surf logo on the back. Not able to help it, she laughed. Reno glared.

When her laughter subsided, Yuffie grabbed the large tote bag, and tucked her Conformer inside. It stuck out, so she draped a couple towels over it. Reno grabbed on a long surfboard that completed the image. Suddenly, she heard the roar of a motorcycle. Her heart leapt, and she looked up, and her eyes scanned the land. Then she cursed herself. _Cloud's a Super Ass Cloud Traitor Man. _But a motorcycle did pull up, but it was some unrecognizable man. But as he climbed off, his face a stoic expression not meant for the disguise, realization settled.

"_Rude?_" she asked incredulously.

He looked up. Rude was wearing a short sleeved, button down informal shirt that had huge Mideelian green floral print plastered over it. With it he wore brown shorts, and she clamped a hand over her mouth to hide laughter. His wig was extremely realistic, but the sight of Rude with hair was making her face turn red with suppressed laughter. The wig was the same one that she had seen him wear when he was the father of the family, except minus the ponytail. His eyes were black, so that she _still_ didn't know the goddamn guy's eye color. She couldn't help it. Her laughter belted out, and Rude glared a glare that could make Shiva shiver.

When her hysterics had ended, Rude climbed off and Reno shoved the surfboard into a holder on the back of the motorcycle. Rude climbed into the helicopter, and gave a nod before flying up into the air. "He's taking it to a landing pad," Reno explained. "He'll meet up with us later tonight." He climbed onto the motorcycle and grinned wickedly. "Well come on."

Reno tossed her a white helmet. She stared. "Reno, I'm in a skirt."

"I know." Reno said, fighting laughter. He turned to her.

"Reno!"

"Come on, you can't just stand there all day, babe."

"Babe?"

"That outfit is pretty sweet there."

"Shut up."

"Get on."

"Skirt, Reno."

"Suck it up."

Yuffie growled, but seeing no other option, climbed on. She let her hair down but shoved it up into the helmet as she slammed the protective headwear on. Her skirt slid up to her hips, and she could just _see_ Reno grinning. "Shut up." She muttered.

"Don't pretend you're upset." He said.

Before she could protest, he sped off. She instinctively clamped onto Reno. Her arms were in a death grip around his waist, and her body was pressed into his back. As soon as her shriek ended, she laughed and let out a giddy whoop into the air that rushed past her face.

Yuffie supposed it was time to admit it. Time to stand up at her own little AA meeting and confess.

'My name is Yuffie Kisaragi and I'm an Adrenaline Addict.'

Adrenalineists Anonymous. Yuffie snickered. But it was true – she was an addict. She lived off adrenaline. One arm raised and pumped in the air as she laughed fearlessly. Reno was amused, and apparently hadn't been prepared for this reaction. Motion Sickness was only countered by going _fast_, though, which ships – sea or air – never did. Her laugher filled the air and Reno chuckled. She was on an adrenaline high, and was disappointed when they sped into town. Forced to slow, they moved along streets. Finally, Yuffie spoke. "So where is he?" she asked.

"Wait for it." Reno said, and Yuffie sighed. Finally, he turned into a parking lot, and her brow furrowed.

"Reno?" she asked in confusion.

"Think about it, Kisaragi."

So Yuffie sat on the motionless motorbike, looking at the black and white cars in the lot and at the building with its large print proclaiming what it was. Finally, it clicked. She gasped. "No…No way," she said breathlessly.

"You got it right. Valentine's a pig."

As Reno smirked, Yuffie looked with disbelief at the Mideel County Police Department.

* * *

Nighttime. Dinnertime, though many were already asleep, and the ocean was emptied, only the crashing of the waves reminding the town of its presence. Yuffie had climbed on into her fake skin, wore her blonde wig (the one she'd worn after she'd saved Cloud) and a black slinky dress. Rude and Reno had changed, however, Rude returning to his bald self, though keeping the outfit, and Reno wearing his former outfit, only wearing a pink button down shirt (few men could wear it with the confidence Reno did) and black tie with black dress pants. Rude parked the car in front of their 'base camp,' so to speak - an apartment where the couple staying there were in Costa de Sol for two weeks. Rude waited in the car until Reno helped Yuffie out. They looked nothing like themselves (that was the point of a disguise) but now that Vincent was so close, Yuffie was sicker of it than ever. She was tired of dressing up, not being able to walk around like herself. She'd never liked it, but now it was driving her crazy.

Reno linked arms with her as they walked down the street, her heels clacking on the sidewalk.

"Do you really think this will work?" Yuffie asked, still looking straight ahead.

"If you stick to the plan, cupcake." Reno smirked, not looking at her either.

"Don't call me cupcake." Yuffie warned, though smiling at the same time.

"Alright, muffin."

She rolled her eyes. "Are we there yet?"

"Patience, biscuit."

"What's with the pastry items?" Yuffie asked, irritable because of the proximity of Vincent.

"I'm hungry."

"Too bad that, because of this plan, we don't get to finish dinner."

"We're here, pumpkin." Reno grinned, stopping in front of a nice restaurant.

"Pumpkin's aren't pastries."

"It's short for pumpkin pie."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Well let's do this then."

They headed inside and got seated at their reserved table. Due to the fact the restaurant believe Yuffie was Calvin Klein's (a famous designer) niece, they were seated on the right side of the restaurant on the side of a large window that stretched from ceiling to floor, and was roughly two yards long. These windows were spaced periodically along the sides of the restaurant. Reno's watch arm was resting on the table, and Yuffie read the time upside down.

7:46.

They ordered drinks and were at appetizers when Yuffie grabbed Reno's wrist and looked at the time.

"You know, its rude to check your watch during a date." He smirked. He was always smirking, son-of-a-bitch.

"Shut up."

"Someone's cranky."

"8:11. Two minutes. Who are we again?"

Reno rolled his eyes lazily, grinning. "You're Julie Klein and I'm Jon Cox."

She nodded.

"Ready?" He asked under his breath as the waiter walked over.

Yuffie glared at Reno. This was not part of the plan.

"May I get you anything?"

Reno looked up, though Yuffie caught him glancing at his watch. "Yea. Get me some ketchup."

The waiter looked at him as if he was crazy, and Reno looked back. He sighed and walked off, and Yuffie caught him saying 'ketchup,' disdainfully under his breath. Yuffie looked at Reno's watch.

8:13.

Just on time, and luckily when the waiter's back was turned and he was far enough away, the giant window they were sitting next to shattered.

Every head in the restaurant snapped over and gasps and screams filled the restaurant as what appeared to be a bomb landed in the restaurant and three gunshots rang out through the restaurant, expertly placed so that the chandelier in the middle of the restaurant came crashing down. Reno and Yuffie knew that they couldn't dive out of the way before it happened, they could only act as naturally as they could. Screams were shooting through the restaurant, and Yuffie was sitting at the table with her head covered while Reno (who had been closer to the window) had been knocked out of his chair. Everyone was running out of the restaurant screaming or gasping while waiters tried to shout for order.

Twenty minutes later, the restaurant was evacuated and the closest thing Mideel had to a bomb squad was exiting the restaurant, announcing the bomb was a dud. What they didn't know was it wasn't just a bomb that happened not to work, but a fake bomb expertly engineered to look like it should work. Everyone in the restaurant was not allowed to leave until talked to by the police, so they were all huddled up inside the crime tape. Yuffie and Reno were sitting on the curb in a group of people closest to the window. Reno had his arm around Yuffie, who was pretending to be upset. The paramedics had immediately picked all the glass out of Reno and Yuffie, who were experienced enough to know how to avoid glass shreds as much as possible without being too obvious. So now she sat in her black slinky dress, hair mussed and acting upset and scared.

So when a police officer headed over to them, it was not part of the plan but pure luck that the officer was Brody 'Sunshine' Bright. Or at least, the man who was pretending to be him.

Vincent Valentine.

It was eerie. She'd seen pictures of Brody as he actually was, and the differences in the face could only be spotted by one who knew one of the two Brody's well - the fake and real Brody. Vincent had no doubt picked him because of his physical similarities in the face and height, but he could not have picked someone more different then him. Brody Bright was an easygoing, go-with-the-flow, all smiles type. He grinned at them and lifted his head and gave them a nod. Walking over he squatted in front of them and smiled at them. Yuffie stared straight into Brody's black eyes, and it was hard for her to see how it was not so obvious this was Vincent Valentine. But the smile on his face was irritating her, but if you looked long enough, it was painted on. The laugh lines around the real Brody's eyes weren't present, and the tan wasn't quite the same.

"Hey there, I was told you two were right there by the window, and I was _also_ told that you two say you got a glimpse of the guy. So we're just going to go over to someplace quieter so I can take your statement."

Showtime.

Brody reached out and took her bicep as if to lead her up, and she drew back violently. "Don't touch me," she said in a strained, scared voice.

"She's just upset," Reno apologized, "Honey, calm down."

"No, I will not calm down!" Yuffie cried, strain in her voice rising and shaking slightly.

"Hey," Brody said, making his smile small and reassuring. "We're going to get out of this place to someplace quieter, calmer." And because Vincent knew how to act like Brody, because he'd perfected the art he knew that Brody would each out and gently touch her shoulder.

"Don't, _touch me!" _She cried, and before anyone could act, she gave him her mean right hook.

Bright was knocked clean on his ass, and Reno turned to her and grabbed her by the arms and stood with her as she tried to walk away. Now the drama was over here as Vincent/Brody nursed his face, and other officers took notice and one, looking angry, walked over. Yuffie kept walking.

"Miss Klein. _Miss Klein._ You can't leave here. You just assaulted a police officer-" she kept going, above to duck under the crime tape. "_Miss Klein you can't leave._"

And with that, he grabbed her harshly by the arm and spun her around.

Yuffie couldn't be playing this better, and these cops couldn't be dumber.

Julie Klein was - although a fake person - older than Yuffie, but not enough that he appearance wasn't realistic (they had make her look older), and they'd warned the restaurant she had a harsh temper. So it was a big mistake of the cop to have grabbed her, and she glared, brow furrowed. She grabbed his shoulders and kneed him right in the crotch.

The cop went down coughing and cross-eyed, and the other cops came over and slapped the cuffs on them. Reno tried to explain and get her off the hook, but they both knew it wouldn't work. So Yuffie was hustled into the cop car, and the door slammed. She looked out the window - just in time to see Officer Bright sitting on the ground, holding his check and giving her a stare, a Vincent-y stare that pierced your heart and soul, and she met his eyes. Somewhere between the face punch and handcuffs, Vincent Valentine just might be figuring out who she really was.

Then again, it could be the trademark grin she flashed at him, and when she was absolutely sure no one was looking, held up a red materia - Leviathan.

The cop car pulled away and she winked at the still staring Vincent Valentine.

* * *

After spending the night in a combination of an interrogation room (asking for her statement) and a cell, she was in the interrogation room again. She kept her mind busy wondering if Vincent had actually cut his hair or not. It was boggling her mind, but luckily, before her mind imploded from the internal pressure, a cop came in. It turned out to be the one she'd kneed in the crotch, and she smiled at him. He turned out to be the Police Chief. Whoops.

"I hope you know you're getting off easy since you cooperated once you came in. Not by my choice."

She smiled prettily.

"Now I'm not the one dealing with you. Officer Bright will talk to you about a few last things, then you can get on home." He nodded at her. "Sunshine!" he called to someone.

On cue, Brody "Sunshine" Bright came in, smiling in that way that made Yuffie frown. While this room didn't have one of those annoying one way mirror things, she wasn't sure how much she trusted it. Once the door was shut and she heard the Chief's footsteps continue down the hall.

"Is this room bugged?" she asked.

Officer Liar-Vincent-Face looked puzzled. "Nah."

Still, she reached into her bra and took out a small device. As he asked her what she was doing, she clicked the button. It was a device Reno had given her (Reeve created) that killed all the bugs within a four wall confinement. She looked at Bright and smiled.

"Hello."

"Hey," he said casually. "Look, Miss Klein-"

"Drop the crap." She said, dropping her fake tone. "I know who you are."

He didn't let his eyes widen, but she could see the gears start turning behind those blank eyes, a mistake on Vincent's part. Officer Sunshine - as he was called because of his surfer boy look and always present smile - never would have blank eyes. "What?" he asked.

"Listen, 'Sunshine,'" With the word 'Sunshine,' she gave air quotes. "Cut it out."

He just smiled and shook his head, chuckling. "Cut what out? Clue me in here, 'cause I never got women."

"Vincent." She finally said point blank.

The smile died. The friendly black eyes turned hard, and she saw Vincent all in a flash. Then the smile came back, crazily realistic and too unfitting for his face. He laughed, nothing like his normal laugh which she had actually heard once before. It was wide and open, full and light, a beach-style laugh.

"I haven't a clue what you're talking about."

But even in that non-monotone, he was slipping back into his normal speech, not the lazy 'Sunshine' speech. She narrowed her eyes. He must have realized his mistake, because his smile flickered. "Now we're not going to charge you for socking one of us, because we understand you were still panicking and too caught up to be responsible for your actions. You do owe a fine and just sign right there, sweetheart."

"Vincent…" she whispered, so quiet he had to lean forward.

"Who is this Vincent?" he asked.

Her face softened, but then all her features became stony. "I'm sorry." She said stiffly. "I mistook you for someone else."

Rigidly, she picked up the pen, signing off some unreadable signature that had large loops. She stood up abruptly. "I'll deliver that fee."

"You can pick up your possessions."

She nodded curtly. Turning, she nearly knocked over the chair and couldn't bring herself to care. Walking, she reached out to open the door and her fingers wrapped around the cold handle.

"Miss Klein…" he said.

She turned, face set in cold stone.

"About your possessions." his eyes were sharp. "I'm afraid you'll have to Conform to the contents."

Her eyes widened. "Thanks." She said, and hurried out the door before her traitor legs could carry her back.

It meant two things. One it meant they'd taken her Conformer. Well, Vincent had. It had been with her on that night in the form of a large, fashionable purse. Otherwise she would have been questioned about the unique one-of-a-kind weapon. Or rather, taken to Midgar in handcuffs because only one person in the world owned such a weapon, and that one person was Yuffie Kisaragi and a fugitive. Think how Mideel would beam, either spinning a dramatic story or admitting they'd caught her by accident on a police assault charge. But the second thing that sentence meant was more important. Secondly, it meant this _was_ Vincent.

She had gotten outside, where Reno was waiting by the bike. Breathing heavily, she hurried out when she heard a door open.

"Miss Klein." Vincent was slipping more and more out of character, because even Yuffie could tell this man he was pretending to be was a shouter, but it was said like Vincent would; even, never rising above normal speaking level, but commanding.

She turned.

'Sunshine' walked towards her. "I feel terrible about all this. Perhaps I could take you out to dinner."

Yuffie caught his eye. "Sure. I'll meet you here at eight."

"Eight."

Yuffie smiled and walked out to the bike. As she turned sideways to put on her helmet, she saw Vincent sharply eyeing Reno, and Yuffie couldn't quite tell if he recognized the Turk. She swung her mini-skirted self onto the bike. Skirt hiked up inappropriately, she had to laugh openly at Vincent's face. As Reno started the bike and turned around swiftly, Yuffie looked back and flashed a V for Victory sign.

Vincent didn't smile. It was fitting. Then, to her surprise he raised his hands. He held up his index and middle finger together and then they parted. She stared. He'd matched her V sign with his own. Vincent Valentine had made a peace sign. Then she smiled. V.

For Victory.

* * *

**A/N:** Longgg chapter. Quick update too. Lots of things happened - we find out that Cid likes country and Yuffie does not. Or, more importantly, we found out Shera is preggo, Vincent is a pig - ehm, cop and knows how to smile, and Elena finds a silver hair.

Cloud'll be in the next chapter. And we finally start to develop some characters that haven't been developed so much yet. So many of you may think Rude being in Mideel is totally disconnected - that's a no.

By the way, this long chapter is up so fast couresty of "Prewriteen Scences." Aka, I wrote these scenes that I knew were happening a long time ago, and stuck them in and edited them appropriately.

So Vincent and Yuffie, face to face (sorta). And many of you have talked about repetative diguises, but I figure there is only so much room and I'm getting rid of disguises soon. You have no clue how much of a pain in the ass disguises are for me. I have to overexplain how someone like Yuffie who had a disctinctive skin tone and features that belong to a certain ethnic (is that the right word? Don't shoot me if it isn't) group, like Asian/Wutain. It's a pain.

Andddd: Whooo! Thank you all of you because not _only_ have I had the most reviews in a single chapter last chapter, but the most reviews within the least amount of hits. Thank ya'll! 20 reviews in a cahpter - big news for me. And of course, thanks to:

exturk, ItsTeotwawki, Kaisa Del'Amago, Midnight-Mafia, Aidiane Valentine, Hidden Demon, Kaikai Pants, MSparrow29, sckry, Artic Dragon, Pyro Blondie, CrazyRabidChickenofNibelheim, Le Pecore Nere, bynon carget, laila, MystiKoorime, jumarien, pride1289, moonstarlight, Lt. Commander Richie, and Following Padfoot's Pawprints.

That should be all of ya'll! Thank you so much, hope this quick update is okay!


	15. Hole in the Plan

**Chapter Fourteen**

Hole in the Plan

_You either stand or you fall  
When your will is broken  
When it slips from your hand  
When there's no time for joking  
There's a hole in the plan_

-Nelly Furtado, Say It Right

Cloud was not happy. First, Rude drops him off at some secret hideout - well, an apartment. The place was on the bottom floor of a building that used to be famous for the restaurant on the top floor, the one with glass walls. Then Rude says he might be gone for a day or so. Rude had been running around the globe ever since he'd come in contact with Cloud. Cloud just didn't know were. So now Cloud had been left in a room for two days while Rude ran around, and worst of all, he'd left Hooters to watch after Cloud and make sure Cloud could shower and to keep a watch to 'protect Cloud.' Cloud said he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself, and he didn't know what Hooters could do, but there was no arguing with Rude. Especially since he walked out.

So now he sat on the couch - the apartment was nice, with sleek modern furnishings but oddly, the first day he'd found dried up marshmallow shapes near the couch. Odd. Then, after poking around when Hooters was in the shower, he'd realized something.

This was Reno's apartment.

He'd tried to find some stuff about the Turk, because he was bored and feeling nosy, plus it would be great to be able to hold something over the Turk, but couldn't find anything significant that wasn't locked up. So now he sat on the couch, scowling at his smooth legs and rubbing blistered feet. Then Hooters came out (he still didn't know her name) and sat next to him on the couch. She was wearing shorts and a fitted black tee-shirt, big fuzzy socks on her feet. He looked over at her. Her brown hair was down and still partially wet. They sat there, silent, until she finally turned to him and smiled.

"So Cloud." She said. "We haven't talked much."

Cloud nodded.

"So you're Cloud Strife. You saved the world. Nice job." She laughed. "I'm Kylie."

"Kylie." He nodded, some form of introduction.

She slouched down into the couch and crossed her arms, and gave a smile. "So I heard you royally beat my brother's ass a while ago."

Cloud looked down at her, brow furrowed. "Your brother?"

She looked up at him and raised her eyebrows, and in that second, it was obvious. That skin was the most obvious clue, and she smiled and pulled out a pair of shades and put them on. "How bout now?" she joked.

Rude had a sister. And suddenly, Cloud knew Kylie wasn't here to make sure Cloud didn't have problems with being a girl, but quite the opposite. Maybe it was because Kylie was too good at being a girl, and maybe Cloud was there to protect her. And maybe Rude didn't like Kylie working at the HoneyBee. Suddenly Rude was more than a bald head and a pair of shades. Because of Kylie, he wasn't emotionless anymore.

And maybe-

"You know, I would have done this for my brother."

-the only reason Cloud was doing this was to protect someone who could have done it much better.

* * *

Yuffie got ready under the same persona. Mideel had gotten over the supposed 'bomb threat,' which was investigated and found to be 'just a prank.' She was primping for the date, using the apartment bathroom. Applying mascara, suddenly there was another face in the mirror. A face with two scars and trademark red hair peered in, and she scowled at him via mirror, a special scowl made just for Reno. "Go on and just make whatever snarky little comment you're thinking of."

There was a pause, and then: "Snarky?"

"Snarky - It's a word. Look it up."

He smirked his dumb little smirk. "This is it. Finally meeting that vampire of your dreams. I packed some alcohol swabs for your neck."

"See. Snarky comment."

Reno laughed and Yuffie gave a half-mock sneer. She had no disguise other than wearing makeup she usually didn't bother with and curling her now shoulder length hair into big fat curls (courtesy of the apartment they were staying in while the couple who owned it went on vacation.) By the time she was done, she emerged wearing a nice black dress and high heels (a little too high for her taste), again courtesy of the people whose apartment they were currently using. Reno wolf-whistled and Yuffie glared at him, and grabbed the matching clutch. The clutch was not full of girly things, but rather, packed with materia and any other small weapons she could fit in, feeling vulnerable without her Conformer. Her hand-to-hand skills were fair, but without the Conformer at her side she felt…naked.

Not to mention this dress was low cut.

"I'm off. And try not to stare at my ass as I leave." She grinned and flicked a curl over a shoulder and started to leave the room. She stopped and turned her head to the right and saw Reno out of her peripheral vision. "See." She smirked. "Knew you couldn't resist."

With that, she left and walked to the streets below to go to some other fancy restaurant. The doorman - or at least some guy opening the doors - let her walk through before stopping her. "Excuse me, are you Miss Klein?"

Yuffie stared for a moment and then: "Yes. Yes I am."

"Well someone left a message for you. He said you'd know what I meant if I said 'Tall, Dark and Scary.' Though he wasn't at all. Bright fellow, a local since birth. Brody Bright, or Sunshine they call him."

Yuffie smirked slightly, at the thought of Vincent being at all related with Sunshine.

"He said not to be too formal. That you were going somewhere more casual." He looked her up and down. "Good thing I caught you."

She thanked him and hurried upstairs, storming in the room. Reno looked over his shoulder, looking surprised. He was stretched out on the couch flicking through the channels, and the picture of casual in a pair of sweatpants and no shirt. She walked by.

"Go ahead. Pretend you aren't looking." He smirked, stretching to show off his muscles. She tried to ignore him. "So why are you back?" he said, staring pointedly at her butt, if only to prove a point.

"Apparently I'm supposed to be casual."

Unfortunately, the woman was just a little taller than her, though otherwise nearly a perfect match. So Yuffie climbed into a pair of jeans that were a good fit, a little long but not noticeable, and she made sure she could fight if the situation required such action. She wore a belt and slipped into a black fitted-tee with Mideel printed across it in white letters. She dumped her belongings into a random purse. The outfit was the best fit out of the closet, and she left. An arm was raised over the couch in a lazy goodbye, and she gave a single wave. When she'd reached the first floor, the man who'd been waiting for her (turned out he wasn't the doorman, but the manager) winked, and she left. Reaching into the purse, she pulled out a crumpled paper that had a number on it.

Heading to the nearest pay phone, she called the number. The phone was picked up almost immediately.

"Hey, yo." She said.

"Turn around." The voice, unmistakably Vincent, came and she turned, to see Vincent aka 'Sunshine' standing on the sidewalk with a cell phone. He walked up to her and she dropped the phone on its hook, and they started walking.

"Where are we going?" she asked, keeping her voice low.

He didn't answer. Typical Vincent. Though the disguise required a wide grin that looked unnatural on him, it was undeniably Vincent. She shuddered a bit, and he looked over at her. They walked in silence that usually annoyed her, but right now, felt just like home. Yuffie felt an overwhelming wave of affection towards Vincent, taking her by surprise. After what they'd been through, she would walk in this silence forever. Eventually the crowds thinned, and still they walked, and he steered her though backstreets until her feet hurt. Finally, they entered a church that seemed empty.

Empty it was, and Vincent walked in but did not stop at the pews. Instead he headed straight for the confessional, which was unlocked, and they both entered. There was no screen in this one, just two chairs.

He shut the door.

The door latched. He turned, and they stood there, and they stared at each other. Her eyes started at the floor, and traced a trail upwards, inspecting this person she didn't know. She was looking at this person who was hiding Vincent Valentine. Finally, her eyes reached his face. She lifted her chin, jutting it out a bit in a show of stubbornness, and their eyes latched. He'd been staring straight all along. As soon as their eyes met, a wave of emotions fell over her. All at once she felt betrayed, sad, angry but most of all…hate. Without thinking, her hand raised, and before a word was said between any of them, she slapped him. Good and hard, she slapped him straight across the cheek, leaving an angry red mark, leaving his head turned to the side. There was surprise in his eyes, she caught it, however brief. But he just took it. Typical Vincent, he didn't say a word. His head slowly turned back from the side, and he looked straight at her again.

Finally she looked up, and she had no disguise on. She was there, and she stared straight into those eyes. "How could you just leave me?"

His brow furrowed. "Yuffie. We all fled, saving our own lives."

Her rigid set of her chin told the story as her stubbornness became a shield against seeing reason and the truth of what he was saying. "That's not the point!" she shook her head. "Vincent, we're the last two left. And with Cloud being a traitor and all and…it's always been the two of us, you know? But I'm obviously…I thought maybe I just kept missing you. That you were looking too. But…turns out it's just like it always was. You don't give a damn about any of us, and you were settled down here, hiding away while I'm out there looking, trying to find you and free them and…but…I guess not."

She frowned, chin lifting as she stared him in the eye. "So explain yourself, you giant ass."

He said nothing, just stared her down. But for once, she didn't look down. His glare wouldn't make her look away anymore. Her jaw was set and her eyes determined, and even he couldn't make her back down.

"There is none." He said, and then the tiniest quirking of his lips was evident. "Unforgivable."

And he had pushed her exact weak point. He knew that that single word would take her back to Wutai, after they found her with their materia, after they saved her and had to decide whether she should be kept. And Vincent, of all people, and said that exact word. "Unforgivable."

And here they were again.

"Damn right." She muttered.

"Yuffie." He said, and she looked up. "Contact would have given us away. It might now. I apologize."

She was slightly ashamed, but she'd grown up some since he'd seen her last. She had gotten over some awkwardness and become more stubborn, learning to stick to her convictions and not to let anyone make her feel like a fool. "But don't you care? About Tifa? About Barret? About Red, Reeve and Cid?"

Vincent was silent, and he was listening not to what was said, but what was not said. "You omitted Cloud."

Her face fell and her lips pressed together. She flopped into the chair. And with that, she told him everything. She went from sitting to standing to on the floor to sitting again, telling the story from the beginning, from first on the run to meeting all the others, to Daniel Powd and finding the Turks, and searching for Vincent. At the part where she reached the Turks helping her, his face darkened. "And you trust them?" he asked stiffly.

"Well. They helped me get here."

He looked at her.

"What about you?"

He shook his head. She stared at him. "Oh _come onnnn!_" she whined, only half-kidding. "I told you everything."

He was silent for a moment, looking down, the expression so odd on his face. It was his face, if disguised with blonde hair and black eyes.

"Take those out." She ordered.

He looked up. "Pardon?"

"The contacts. Take them out." She ordered.

And though she was all of 5"1', and he was all of 6"0', he listened and carefully took them out, putting them in a contact case he pulled out of his pocket.

Then she stood on her very tip toes, and jumped up and grabbed the blonde wig. "And this." She tugged.

But it didn't come off. He winced, and she yanked harder, and his head came down to her level. Tugging it down, she stared at the roots. Black.

Her eyes widened.

"Vin…your hair."

His face was stony.

It was so weird, but now that she looked, she realized she'd seen that cut on him before. In the picture she'd seen of him as a Turk. She closed her eyes tight, and reopened them.

Her shock wasn't that his hair had changed, really. Sure, it was weird to see him like this, but of all things, it freaked her out because it made her realize how much everything had changed. Vincent had cut his hair, the same hair that he'd refused to let Tifa or Aeris cut, much less touch. When faced with a simple haircut, it really jammed the perspective of everything that had happened down her throat. It made her shiver. So she pulled up a chair, spun it around and sat down on it backwards.

"Start at the beginning, Vinny boy. I got all day."

He paused and then started, seeing no way out of it. "At the beginning of the…trial, I was much like you. Traveling, except I did not change my appearance at first. I stayed low, moved around. I went to the mansion only once, to find some resources…and then it was burned down."

Yuffie thought of her backpack, lying at home, and of how Vincent winced when he said it. He hadn't even begun to think about getting over that place and someone else had taken care of it for him. And she thought of the basement - the second basement.

"And when it began to be clear that it wasn't a short term affair like I'd originally thought, I realized I had to start changing my appearance. It was becoming too risky. So I found contacts…different clothes. I began with my appearance. I still traveled. But soon I realized that the best type of disguise is the type already created for you. I was in Mideel…"

The story unfolded. The gist of the long story was that an Officer Brody Bright had gotten into a bad car accident that had not only given him severe injuries, but put him in a coma. He broke his nose and needed minor fixes to his face, which could cover up any differences. He broke his nose and had to take skin from his thighs to put in his face. So Vincent visited the Officer under the pretext of a cousin, and changed into scrubs from the scrub machine at the hospital. At that point, it was easy enough to disguise himself as an orderly, and he went in to Officer Bright's room.

That's when things went wrong.

Brody woke up - which wasn't supposed to happen - and Vincent had to cover his mouth and told him to remain calm. At which point Vincent found out the Officer had no memory of what had happened. So Vincent plopped him in a wheelchair. The whole procedure was very basic, if you thought of it. Sneak in, get red/pink scrubs and put the Officer in a wheelchair. The tricky part was where he went to the roof where there was a helicopter waiting - not chance, another patient needed it that night - and told them that this was the patient who was supposed to go out in the helicopter. So the real Officer Bright was in a hospital in Junon currently known as Zach McGinley. So for the past 8 months Vincent had been known as Officer Brody. He showed his ID - which was actually Bright's ID. The resemblance between the two was uncanny, which didn't leave much question why Vincent had picked him when he saw the picture in the newspaper. But there were some differences between the face that made it able to distinguish between the two. But the biggest difference was the brightness of Bright's face (the tan as well) and the smile he was wearing was well worn and accustomed to his face, as well as having a few laugh lines. And with Vincent in his disguise, the few differences could be marked up to the accident.

And, most interesting of all, Officer Bright had a girlfriend. Vincent had been unaware of this.

Yuffie was concerned why she wasn't finding this as funny as it should have been.

So he'd had a girlfriend for the past months. Yuffie did laugh a little, but it wasn't as satisfying as usual. When his story concluded, they were silent.

And then.

"So Vincent…" she said, and it had all come down to this. It was all down to now, in this church off the beaten path, inside the confessional, it had come down to the final question. The reason she'd come all this way. "Will you help me?"

_

* * *

_

As per normal, when Cloud took neither Yuffie nor Vincent with him, they got sent off together. Cloud was with Tifa and Nanaki while Cid, Barret and Cait Sith made the other party. Then there was Yuffie and Vincent. Two who couldn't be more different, one young and peppy, the other old (chronologically, at least) and solemn were put together almost by default.

"_You know why they always put us together, Vinno?"_

"_Vincent." He automatically corrected, a habit he would soon abandon._

"_I'll take it you're dying of curiosity." Yuffie concluded._

"…" _Maybe there was an inkling of curiosity. Barely there, of course._

"_Well, it's because we're the outcasts." She explained triumphantly._

_He moved his head ever so slightly to look at her. He knew he was an outcast, and he had chosen that for himself, but he would guess she would see herself as one._

"_Oh come on, Vincent."_

_She could read his blank looks already._

_Not good._

"_Really. They all call me 'The Brat.' I mean, I act like me but I haven't been in society since…" she pretended to count, but he knew that she didn't need to, just like he didn't need to count his years in the coffin; they were always there, burned on the brain. "For three years."_

_Not the number he was expecting. Well, maybe the three. But not followed by years. Months maybe. Days wouldn't have surprised him. Weeks, even. But years?_

_That was two things in a row she had said that he hadn't expected._

_Not good._

_Vincent had a talent for pinning down a person with a glance. He could glance at him with his eyes, red or blue, Turk or Monster, and be able to dissect their personalities. Of course, it's impossible to know fully someone without actually spending time with them, but he could usually hit the nail on the end. When he first saw Tifa with her strong arms, it told him she was tough, and wouldn't take anything sitting down. But one glance into those burgundy eyes told him she was vulnerable, and that she swam with worries. Worries, but not only for her teammates, worries for the man who just sprang out of a coffin. And not worries about what he would do to them; worries about his wellbeing, and she didn't even know if he was friend or foe._

_Just like that he could read a person. He could glance at Cid and see the affection he felt for the others, see it in the way he stepped forward with his spear, while he in the same breath cussed and groaned at them. He saw the softness that hid deep in Barret's core, see it in the way he put a large, protective hand on Tifa's shoulder, in the way his eyes were accustomed to melting from hard points, if only for one person. One person he had later learned was Marlene._

_Then there were the people you could barely read. Like Cloud. How could you read into empty eyes that only stared back with all the blankness and mirroring of a fatal error screen? Obviously troubled, but it didn't take a rocket scientist to know that. But all he could take was that he was, even with his short stature, that he was the leader, from the straightness of his back. But the reluctance of his stance told him he wasn't entirely happy about it. That and the strife was all he could pull from Cloud. And to Vincent, that wasn't reading a person. To read a person, you dug deep into the secrets their eyes concealed. For Cloud, they'd been erased._

_But Yuffie. He'd thought that he had her down pat the first time he saw her. Or had he? He remembered glancing at her, and seeing the real her mixed with every so little bits of artificial. But he hadn't looked at her for long. He figured that being so young, she didn't have much to her, not much of a story. The band around her head told him she was a ninja of Wutai, though he shamefully had underestimated her._

_After all, there were the people you thought you had at first glance, only to find they kept snapping back and shocking you again and again. And they were more dangerous than all the unreadable people on the Planet._

"_You left home at thirteen?" was all he said._

"_Yup." She said, pulling the overlarge sweatshirt over her bent knees and shins. Hugging herself around the knees, she grinned cheekily. "I wasn't the only one who wanted me to get the hell outta Wutai."_

_The pure bluntness was typically Yuffie, thrown out fearlessly to challenge all who heard. But then again, how blunt was it? She said that she wanted out, and other people did too. She never said who. She didn't say why. It was subtle frankness, pulled off with an obvious manner so that no one bothered to look deeperl._

"_Way to get me off topic Vin."_

"_Vincent."_

"_Whatever you say, Vince Van Goth."_

_He was quiet, then: "How long have you been sitting on that one?"_

_She grinned, wide and exposing rows of white teeth. "Oh too long."_

_He was quiet again._

"_Anyway. We're the outcasts."_

"_We're all outcasts."_

"_Yea, that's how pathetic we are. We're the outcasts of the outcasts. Don't you get it? You were a Turk; they don't trust you. They trust themselves, but they don't trust you because you once wore a blue suit and you have little monsters in you that talk in your head."_

"…_and you?"_

"_Well, they don't trust me either Vin. The first time I met them I tried to steal from them, and then I went and did it again. And I don't care what you say, they haven't forgiven me." _

_Surprisingly (Vincent was using that word far too much) her tone got a little more somber, even a little sadder. "I mean, think about it Vin. Every time they met one another, someone helped the other out. Cloud was hired, but he was still working for them. Cloud was helping Aeris. Cid helped with the Bronco. Cait's a robot, and doesn't really count. But the rest of them are all tied in, because they got tied together by a project, a mission, a task, establishing immediate trust. But you and me? They found me in a jungle, and teamed up on me. Gawd Vin, how pathetic is that? Two twenty-something year olds and a thirty year old with a machine gun arm, for a scrawny, unthreatening sixteen year old. I hadn't even done anything yet – I hadn't made my real move. I just sprang from a tree._

"_And you? We were in creepy haunted mansion and vampire dude flips from a freaking _coffin_ with monster eyes and the first time is fear. You sprang from a coffin, I sprang from a tree."_

_She chuckled ever so slightly, head bending and eyes almost closing as her lips twisted him and her head shook slightly. Then she looked up and her close-lipped smile concealed laughter, her eyes bright._

"_I guess they don't trust us who spring, huh?"_

* * *

Her anger was nearly unfathomable to him. One second she was fine, civil and even nice to him. The next, his face was branded with an angry red mark, where another red mark had laid over 30 years previous. But when he thought, when he actually thought and stopped playing dumb with himself, he found he could guess. Her face, so angry, made him feel guilty and ashamed, emotions that never made it to his face.

It had always been the two of them, separate from the rest. They fit in of course, but there would be groups of three, then Yuffie and Vincent. Or Yuffie and Vincent with Cloud. Occasionally switched up, but it was a popular combination. The three formed a powerful team, and since Vincent never made a complaint about Yuffie, they were often a pairing. So once everyone else was gone, Yuffie felt betrayed that she was all alone for once. That he wasn't there with her, like he usually was. He couldn't imagine why she would care though - he didn't say too much.

But there he went, lying to himself again. He opened up more around her than others, and he talked more than he let on. More than she let on too. The two had indeed, as odd as it was for him to say or even think it, had become friends. An odd, dysfunctional type maybe, but friends none the less. Which made the slap hurt all the more.

And he listened to her story. Of hiring the Turks, of Cloud's disgusting betrayal. He wasn't sure what drove the leader to do it, but he was certain he couldn't look at Cloud the same again. And then, at the end of it all, the question he'd known was coming all along. A question he'd feared from the moment he realized it was her here in Mideel.

"Will you help me?"

He looked down at her. She'd changed a lot in a short time. Grey eyes were strong and set, no longer having lapses of teenage self-doubt. She was a strong one indeed, the type that could manipulate, make men follow them. She was not aware of this, however, except perhaps of her ability to be conniving. She looked at him, and her eyes were alight with hope.

Which made this harder.

"No, Yuffie. No." His eyes fell to the floor, because he couldn't watch her face fall and her shoulders slump. Most of all he couldn't see the shock in her eyes that showed she was still a little naïve, the shock written across her face. So he turned around and walked out of the room, out of the church, leaving her standing there. Shocked.

* * *

**A/N:** Ohhhh, what now. You all are going to hate me. Yes, Vincent turned her down. Shut dowwwnnn.

And Rude has a sister. She is an OC, yes, and she will be playing her role but don't worry. She won't take over and hopefully you won't think her a Mary Sue.

Notice how most of the chapter took place in one setting, with numerous characters there. Everyones starting to be brought together, and within the next chapter, maybe two, there will be two main groups - the prisoners and the er, Ones on the Outside. Free ones, I guess. Of course, there will be a few deviants from the latter group. But much less scattered, and its about time after 14 chapters. I wish I could have brought it together sooner, but I, well, didn't.

And that's all I have to say about that. Ha, I was watching Forrest Gump the other day. Now I'm watching Georgia Rule, which is a great movie. But, by the way...

200 Reviews! Wow, thanks so much. And the last chapter got the most reviews of any chapter so far! Yayy, 27. One of my lucky numbers. Almost 30. And over 10,000 Hits! Yayy.

Side Note: I like the quote for this chapter. Nelly Furtado, I think it fits because Yuffie had this whole plan, adn Vincent not agreeing wasn't part of it. And it applies to Cloud too.

So Thanks to all my reviewers, its getting to the point where theres too many to put all your names up here. But there are some who've been here all along, so thank you all! One person I have to say - jellyish, I love your screenname.


	16. Through the Morgue Drawer

**Chapter Fifteen**

Through the Morgue Drawer

_It would be so nice if something made sense for a change._

Reno was lying on the couch of the apartment, bored. Vaguely he realized that this was one of the few times that not only was he separate from Yuffie, but he was actually doing nothing. Since he'd gotten caught up in this whole business, he had barely gotten a moment where he wasn't either with 'the Brat' or so busy on the mission he hadn't had any time to relax. He should probably have still been focused, but something was nagging at him. This whole time it was sitting in the back of his mind, waiting, he was sure. He'd been so focused on this 'mission' - because yes, he'd gotten caught up in this. And all for the Brat and her friends who _used_ to be his enemies. Now he was running over the globe for the girl. Possibly, though, the reason he'd gotten caught up is so he could push it back, ignore it. But ultimately, it was the reason he'd agreed (or, as far as Yuffie knew it was).

He must have lain on the couch for an hour. He kept thinking that Yuffie was going to walk through the door, saving him from making the decision. Then he sat up and sat on the couch for an hour, leaning forward. What the hell was taking so long? It had been two hours, since she left, and it was one o'clock. So he stood up, and for the next ten minutes, alternated between sitting and standing. He was too preoccupied with the issue at hand to feel stupid.

"Holy shit, get yourself together." He said. Reno didn't act like this. Reno was impulsive. Reno made decisions quickly. Then and there, he knew Yuffie wouldn't be home for a while. With that, he stood up again, got down on his hands and knees and reached under the couch. He pulled out a black drawstring bag. It was easy to take with him, and he pulled it open and sat on the edge of the couch. Pulling the coffee table closer, he dumped out the contents of a bag. Two folded pieces of paper, a couple pens, a pack of nicotine gum, two packs of cigarettes, a cell phone, and one of those tiny airline alcohol bottles -half-full. Most predominantly was a thick grey tube sock with the shape of a rectangle sticking out.

His impulse was to grab the cigarette pack and work his way through it, while taking the tiny airline bottle and any other alcohol in the place and tearing through it.

Since Reno was impulsive, that's what he did. To an extent, anyway.

He stuck a cigarette in his mouth and lit it up, breathing in and feeling his shot nerves relax again. He'd seen what was inside that sock before, and he knew he'd have to see it again. Eventually. In the meantime, he found something alcoholic - he didn't care - and downed that sucker almost as soon as it hit the glass. He didn't want to get drunk, just have something to take the edge off.

People got the wrong impression about him. They assumed he was an alcoholic. This was incredibly untrue. One of Elena's favorite explanations was while most people were usually sober and occasionally got drunk, Reno was usually drunk and occasionally got sober. Reno insisted this was also untrue. He could stop. But right now, he needed to drink. And he did. Just enough to get the edge off, loosen his inhibitions, he guessed. It was enough.

It was enough, that is, to muster up the balls to reach into that sock, and pull out that rectangle. That rectangle, apparently, was a video tape. The words Reno were written on it in neat letters on one of the college-ruled lines on the label. The bold Sharpie was smack dab in the center of the label, and though small, it glared up at him.

Reno hadn't noticed how much time had passed, or the fact that it was getting dark. Yuffie had fled from his mind, to be replaced with a black tape with his name on it in those small, black letters. So he walked to the VCR and popped in the video, and grabbed another glass of that unlabeled alcohol. Walking back to the couch, he flopped down on his side and took the remote. He drank some of the alcohol and his lip curled up, teeth pressed together. He pressed that red power button and the TV turned on, and the blue screen stared at him. Eerily enough, the blue glow reminded him of SOLDIER boy's eyes. That is, Cloud Strife. The Fatal Error blue had glared at him enough, much like this screen did now, that maybe it wasn't so odd that was all he could think off.

Of course he could be avoiding the issue again.

So he lifted his remote and pressed the Play button. The blue screen, without any ado or prelude, turned to the face of a blonde in her upper teens. Reno sucked in his breath, and closed his eyes, if only for a moment. Opening them again, the girl looked slightly guilty but at the same time it was apparent her mind was set and she stared at the camera. She looked down only for a second, but raised her gaze again.

"Reno." She said, and he raised the remote with his finger on the pause button. Luckily, just at that moment, the door burst open. He pressed the power button and the screen went to black. Hurriedly he turned over on the couch, throwing the remote against the wall and glass on coffee table. The door slammed shut and there was Yuffie. And she was mad.

"Where the _hell_ does he get off listening to all of that shit, telling all that shit and then just blind-sighting me like that? He's such a bastard. Such a bastard." She was fuming. Apparently she had been in a rage for a while, as he noted red, swollen, cracked and bleeding knuckles. The fronts of her shoes were scuffed, as though she had kicked things. Reaffirming that was the fact she was limping. She turned and faced him, eyes blazing.

Somehow, oddly, it was sexy.

Her rage seemed to pass to him, and he felt a similar anger welling in his chest. It started as a knot deep inside his chest, spreading out its tendrils to wrap around all his limbs and muscles. Whatever it was, he felt himself getting angrier and angrier, rage welling up. So he was on his feet, walking around the couch and standing in front of her. He was staring down at her, feeling his height over her more than ever. She was so small, it seemed, but she was welling with angry energy, jaw set and glaring up at him.

"Well Princess, at least he didn't lie to you all the time he knew you. And at least it wasn't like you found out not from her - him - but from someone else, and it wasn't like you were just a lark, a fun glimpse for when he needed to get off his pedestal, a sideshow. So maybe you're lucky, Princess."

Though they weren't angry at each other, they stared each other down (or up) like two gunslingers. Then, suddenly, randomly -

Lips were pressing against each other, and who would have seen the Brat and the Turk kissing, making out even. His hands were on the sides of her face and her arms were around his neck. He moved forward and she stumbled back and she was pressed up against the wall with a loud bang. One hand of his was grabbing her ass, and she didn't care, and before they could think her shirt was off. Her legs were around his hips, and they turned and were on the couch.

Before anything could happen, however, there was the sound of three brisk knocks and the knob turning. Yuffie sprung away like a startled rabbit. She had to hide. So, naturally, she shut herself in the nearest door (which happened to be a closet), locked in just as soon as the door opened. Reno was lying on the couch lazily, stretched out and eyes half shut. When Rude walked in, he flopped onto his stomach and grinned, giving a half wave.

Rude didn't miss much. So he noticed the remote in a lonely corner, and the scuff against the wall from where it had been thrown. He saw the red light on the VCR that told him it was on, yet the absence of a glow that said the TV was off. He noticed the glass on the table and the alcohol, and the cigarette stub. Most of all he noticed the girl's tee-shirt that was discarded on the floor. He looked at it and raised an eyebrow. Reno shrugged and grinned. "You know me."

Rude shook his head. "Is Kisaragi here?"

Reno shook his head. "No, she's meeting with Valentine."

"So you found him."

"Yea. Playing a cop."

Rude snorted.

"So buddy." Reno said, standing up and walking around the couch. He leaned against the arm and looked over at Rude. "What do ya need?"

Rude frowned ever so slightly, though to someone who didn't know Rude so well, he would look expressionless. "Strife is about to undertake the plan." Rude didn't tell Reno what Cloud had said about his betrayal of Yuffie. It was Cloud's business.

Unfortunately, Reno did not feel that way. Rude saw Reno's face flicker at Cloud's name, and he assumed the bad blood between Reno and Cloud wasn't nearly gone. But Reno frowned and scrutinized Rude's face. The he turned away and fell back onto the couch, legs propped on the edge of the coffee table. He shook his head. "Though so far you haven't told me anything you couldn't have said on the phone."

Reno looked up over his shoulder at Rude, and the man's face was like stone. When the man's face was stiff like now, Reno knew he was right. "So I'm guessing there's another reason you've been running out on SOLIDER boy." He raised his brows.

Rude's stiffness let out some, like defeat, though his posture was as impeccable as ever. "I've been looking for Elena."

Reno frowned. Now that he thought about it, he hadn't heard from the blonde in a while. No calls, which was unlike the eager rookie. Though, Reno mentally corrected himself, she's not really a rookie anymore. In Reno's mind, however, she would always be the rookie, the newbie. Poor girl had no way out. "You haven't heard from her either then?" Reno said.

Rude shook his head. "Something else is going on. I've been flying over the North Continent. I left Cloud with Kylie two days ago. I went to Bone Village last time, the time I dropped you off. No one had seen her. I went to Icicle Inn yesterday, and found a little boy and girl who'd seen her. Said she wanted a chocobo, and that their 'caretaker' knew more than they did. He wasn't there."

It was quite a mouthful from Rude, but it was in report format, so Reno wasn't surprised. Reno was sure the Wutain in the closet would be shocked, however. Before Reno could say anything, however - and this was surprising - Rude started again.

"Kylie wants to do it for Cloud."

Reno shrugged. "It'd be better. Strife can't act worth a damn. I saw that play he was in. Horrible. She'd be much better. Already in the position, and Strife couldn't do that all on his own. I've told you for a while now that if Cloud was alone it was going to take week, months even. With Kylie working with 'Claudia,' or whatever the hell you're calling the she-Cloud, Kylie is a good enough distraction while Cloud or 'Jenny' or whatever uses 'her' skills to get to the files we need."

Rude said nothing. Silent, stony and et cetera, Reno knew he'd struck a nerve. Hell, he knew he was striking a nerve before he'd gotten into the conversation.

"She doesn't know what she's getting herself into." Rude said.

Rude was usually the type who didn't bullshit anyone, especially not himself. Self-deception wasn't his thing. But he was different when it came to his sister. "She knows damn well what she's getting into. She knows that it's not just this one operation. She knows that by doing this, she's getting herself mixed up in the biggest web of lies, deceit and scandal this Planet has seen. She knows. But you don't want her too."

Rude looked at the floor. "She's going to be involved." He stated, and Reno knew this was Rude's version of acceptance. "Just like her."

Rude gave the smallest of smiles, and Reno just caught it.

"I have to ready our exit." Rude said.

"I'll page you when the Brat gets back."

Rude nodded and then turned on his heel and left. And Reno waited for the sound of the elevator pinging, and knew who else was waiting for it.

Sure enough, the elevator announces its departure, and the closet door bursts open.

If possible, she was angrier than before. Her jaw was clenched so tight he swore it would get stuck, and her eyes blazed. She snatched up her shirt and put it on before she propped her hands on her hips and glared at him angrily.

He'd expected this. "Calm down Princess, it was harmle-"

"Shut up you _jackass_." She hissed. "You really think I'm upset over a little making out? We were both upset, and - wait, who the hell cares? The point is, you giant ass of a person, you knew!" Her voice was slowly edging towards hysterical.

He looked at her quizzically.

"Don't you dare look at me like that you _shit_." She said, voice biting. "This whole time, that traitorous ass has been alive and with _Rude_ none the less and you KNEW and you didn't tell me?"

Oh. That.

"Hey, hey, listen-"

"No, don't give me 'listen.' I've been here, ranting and raving, while wondering this whole time if I killed the man that saved all our asses, my friend, and you just sat there. You sat there, never saying a word while you knew this whole time that he was with Rude, readying for some mission, alive and you didn't say anything. Dickhead."

"Hey-"

"No, you 'hey,'" she snapped. "I'm done with this." She shook her head. "Honest to Leviathan, I thought I couldn't have been any angrier when I walked in here."

She turned and Reno saw she was literally shaking with rage. She yanked the door open, and suddenly he was on his feet, and grabbed her arm. "Wait."

Yuffie whipped her head around, poison in her glare.

"Yea, I didn't tell you. And you blame me? Fuck brat, you were sitting here saying how much you hated the guy. So I was just supposed to throw in a 'hey, by the way, he's alive?' Look at you. You're pissed at Valentine, not me Yuff. So, yea, I didn't tell you. But we're leaving here in an hour, so you can either storm out of here right now or you can suck it up, pack your bags and leave the person you're really mad at in the dust."

The speech worked. She pushed her lips together and reluctantly, she nodded. The fire of her anger was still in her, but shoved down. Reno didn't like the thoughts that were glancing through his head, and how sexy the Brat was when angry. _Fuck._ He thought. _I did not just think that_.

She walked to her room to get her few possessions, and he went to get his, shaking off the oddness of the day. He glared at the VCR and the scuff mark on the wall from the remote, and then avoided it. He got his pack, his nightstick, and finally went to the VCR and shoved the tape in before the Brat saw. Grumpy, he sat on the couch and took out a cigarette.

Of course, the Brat chose that moment to walk in, carrying her things. "Don't light that." She ordered. He was about to retort, but curiosity took over. She had her pack, her Conformer, and a Halliburton briefcase. Vaguely he remembered seeing it before, and had been dying to ask about it.

"So what's with the case?" he asked as she sat in an armchair. She looked over, slightly surprised. Then she gave a grin.

"Found it. I'm going to pick the lock."

Reno snorted. Her eyes narrowed to slits.

"What?" she asked in a low tone.

"Well," he said and shook his head, "If you can pick the lock on a Halliburton, then I will put on a dress and do a curtsy."

She glared, and dug in her backpack until she pulled out a set of lock picks. "Then get ready to spread your petticoats, Shirley."

* * *

About two hours later there were sharp raps on the door. Reno knew it was Rude, and told him to come in. When the bald Turk came in, he found Reno laying on the couch watching a TV show containing lifeguards with big boobs. Yuffie, on the other hand, was totally absorbed in her task. She was sitting at the foot of the armchair, trying to pick the lock on - Rude almost smirked - a Halliburton ZERO. The ninja didn't even seem to notice the Turk's arrival. Rude stood next to the arm of the couch.

"The way out is secure. Are you ready?"

Reno chuckled. "Yeah, we're ready. I mean, if you can convince Yuff she's never going to pick that lock."

Usually that would be the cue for Yuffie to look up and say something cheeky, but she was absorbed. Reno grinned, and got a pillow from the couch, and tossed it slightly before chucking it at Yuffie's head.

She looked up abruptly, and scowled at him.

"Time to go girl."

She stood up with her backpack, weapon and her briefcase and the three of them headed out of the apartment. Taken away from her task, Yuffie seemed grumpy and occasionally she would mutter something about 'waste of time' and a few choice cusses. Rude led them out a side door into an alley. By that time it was quite late, and they went to the edge of the alley. All but every third street light went out, so that any cars would have a dim beacon. With that, they were able to slip out. They started walking, and after a while, Yuffie frowned.

"Where are we going anyway?"

Rude said nothing, and Reno followed his fellow Turk's example. Except Reno grinned mockingly at him, and she glared.

Eventually, after they had gotten to the more commercial and popular part of the island, the part that used to be the small town, they ended up in front of the famous Mideel Hospital. Yuffie looked over at the other two, quite confused, but they just - quite casually - walked towards the door. Yuffie scowled and stood still, about to protest. Yet when it became clear they weren't turning back, she made a frustrated noise and jogged to catch up with them.

Walking in, Rude actually put on an expression. Yuffie was quite shocked to see him put on look of concern. Yuffie's eyes grew wider until Reno elbowed her, and she copied his look. They walked up to the desk.

"What can I do for you?" the tired receptionist asked, looking up. She'd seen a million and one concerned people in here, and their expressions wouldn't move her.

"We're here to…" Rude cleared his throat. "Identify…" Rude trailed off.

"Your affiliation?" she deadpanned.

"We're his cousins." Reno said of Rude and himself. "And Julie here," he said, indicating Yuffie, "is his sister."

The woman looked up and nodded, putting on a look of sympathy, even if just for show. "Mhmmm, you called earlier to say you were coming. To get to the-"

"We know." Rude cut in. She nodded, and pointed to the right, plopping three visitors passes on the counter. They pinned them on before nodding and giving assorted thanks. They started walking to the indicated direction. Reno hadn't taken his hand off Yuffie's shoulder, and was now forcefully steering her. She looked sideways at him, and under her breath muttered, "What is going on?"

Reno was looking straight, and steered her until they reached the elevator. They shared it only with a doctor going up to the next floor, and they waited him out and then pressed the button marked with an M. "Remember those passageways?" he said.

She caught on quickly. "Ohhhh." She said, as the elevator announced they reached the 'M' floor. Apparently M was below the ground floor, and it turned out M stood for Morgue. Even though the morgue was below the ground floor, they could still hear particularly loud noises above. Such as, right now, they heard the unmistakable roar of a helicopter starting up. Though muffled - because everything seemed muffled down here - they could hear it. Otherwise, this place seemed cut off, secluded. No one wanted a family member to have to accidentally see this place, think of their kin winding up in a drawer. They walked out, and to Rude's apparent displeasure, were greeted by a kid in scrubs. Of course, he wasn't a kid, but couldn't be more than an intern or resident.

"Front desk called." He explained, having to raise his voice to hear above the roar of the helicopter. "Are you here to identify who we believe to be Donald Braff?"

Reno and Rude exchanged a glance, and Yuffie recognized this was a hiccup in the plan. "Yess," Reno said, and the intern nodded.

"Follow me," he said, and turned. His mistake.

For as soon as he turned, Rude raised his gun in his hand and brought the handle down hard on the intern's head. The intern flopped over.

It was pretty convenient that the helicopter happened to be lifting away a patient, because no one could hear the intern fall to the ground, or his exclamation before he did. And they could be as loud as they wanted talking and what not, thanks to that copter. Yuffie wondered if Rude had counted on it as part of the plan, or if it had just happened.

Reno and Rude took a gurney that was leaning against the wall folded up, and set it up to look like it fell on the intern's head. With that, Reno and Rude started walking. Going into the morgue, they seemed pleased to find that the morgue attending or pathologist wasn't there.

The morgue was a large room with a table in the center for autopsies. All around, and in other connecting rooms, were large silver drawers that lined the walls in columns and rows. Yuffie shivered, and recalled Hojo's Secret Lair Number 2. Reno and Rude walked into a connecting door to the left, and then through another. They were then in the last room on the left, and the drawers seemed slightly larger here, at least to Yuffie. They started reading the numbers next to the drawers until they reached a drawer that was on the south wall, all the way in the bottom left corner. Pulling out the drawer, Yuffie readied herself for a body, but there was none. Instead, they pulled the drawer out all the way. It looked normal to Yuffie.

At least, it looked normal until they pulled out the bottom of the drawer. Yuffie gaped, because there was a square hole that took up the bottom of the drawer. There was a ladder attached to the wall, and it was so much like the hole in Shera's washing machine that Yuffie shivered. They arranged their luggage and then Reno took the lead, and Yuffie was forced to follow next, Rude bringing up the rear and putting the bottom back in the drawer as he climbed in. As they climbed down, once they passed the drawer the hole was a circle. It unnerved Yuffie slightly because they climbed for quite a while before Reno jumped off. Yuffie followed his lead, but with so much luggage, she landed quite ungracefully on her ass. And having shouted no warning to Rude, she was forced to roll out of the way as the much larger man landed on his feet and brushed himself off.

Just like below Shera's house, just like below the mansion, here below the hospital was a large silver room much like the morgue itself. It had a shower that was labeled 'DECONTAMINATION.' There was a pantry as well, and of course, the long north wall had large hatches. But Yuffie found it odd that instead of specifics, like the other places, it only had three hatches. Yuffie read, from the left, Western, Northern and Eastern. She smirked when she saw Wutai was not included.

"Labeled from left to right starting with the greatest distance." Rude announced.

"And where are we going, exactly?" Yuffie asked.

"Kalm." Reno said. "Though there might be a problem..."

"What?" Yuffie asked, already irritated and tired and not in the mood for beating around the bush.

"They say that Kalm town residents found out about the tunnels during ShinRa's rein and blocked it off." Rude said.

"Why is there one to Kalm anyway? What's of use there? No one from ShinRa was there and there is no significance."

Reno shrugged. "Because of those reasons. An empty house in Kalm was used as a storing place for any experiment or anything else being transported that had to be on a delay or had to be hidden."

Yuffie 'Ahhh'ed, and finally found a good reason for all the supplies laying around in chests Cloud had found when he raided a house in Kalm. It also explained why no one had complained or taken notice.

"So we will see if the tunnel is truly blocked." Rude said. "We believe that the Eastern Continent tunnel will break into three groups once we reach the Eastern Continent."

Yuffie had no choice, so shrugged, but was not thrilled about carrying her luggage so much. True, she'd carried it further, but not since she'd made additions to her luggage that included the briefcase.

"Well Yuff. All of this for nothing." Reno said.

With that, the memory of Vincent and his betrayal of her (sort of) came flooding back. The wound was rubbed open, and the hurt seemed raw and new all over again. The anger filled her again, ever so slowly, and she had to clench her arm muscles to keep them from shaking.

"Yup." She finally forced out, and gave a shrug and an 'oh well' expression. "Just as well to leave the ass behind."

"Let's go." Rude said with a finality that Yuffie liked, and thus nodded as he grabbed the large handle. He yanked the hatch open, and the door swung open slowly to reveal a large hole in the wall. It stared out at Yuffie, beckoning her, inviting her into its folds. With one last nod, she walked over, threw her luggage in and stepped in, swallowed by the darkness.

* * *

As Yuffie, Rude and Reno traveled through into the morgue and below the hospital, however, there was activity far above them even they didn't know of. On the roof of the hospital, a helicopter was landing, and waiting for it was a woman in the pink scrubs of a nurse. She had with her a man in a wheelchair, being transported with IVs and fluids and an oxygen tank, anything it took to get him out of here as well as possible. As the helicopter landed, the girl's blonde hair was blown away from her face, and icy blue eyes squinted against the wind. As the blades died down in their fervor, a man jumped out of the helicopter. He wore a pilot's helmet but the outfit of a paramedic, and he whipped off the helmet and tucked it under his arm. His brown hair was whipped around in the wind. He went to the side of the helicopter and got out a gurney used for transport in the shock trauma helicopters.

"Thanks for coming, Parker." She said. "Auhncore has caught wind that he's alive and that he's here. They'll be here any second."

He looked off the side of the roof because as she spoke, a black SUV pulled up in front of the hospital and three men in suits got out of the car. They were unmistakable in who they were. They were the SP, identified by their trademark vehicle of choice. Rip-offs of the Turks, of course.

"Hurry." He said, and they went to work getting the Wutain-appearing man onto the gurney safely. After they completed the task, he handed her a suit much like his, suit of a paramedic, and a helmet. He went to load the man into the helicopter as she changed right there on the roof, and Parker - well, he was human - tried not to look. When he turned, she was wearing the helmet and the suit, and there were shouts from below them. The words, 'stop' and 'unauthorized' came floating up, and the two nodded at each other as Parker climbed in and started up the copter, and the blonde followed suit.

The door to the roof burst open and the three members of the SP came out, guns pointed as the helicopter rose into the sky. They were soon followed by protesting nurses and a doctor or two, a few of whom shrieked when they saw the guns pointed.

"That is a shock trauma copter don't you dare-"

But it didn't matter, for the helicopter was gone. The SP members sighed and dropped their guns. But something had come out of this. The hospital had a picture of the man they had called Mr. Chan. It was enough to confirm that the man named Tseng was still alive, if only barely. The SP had another target in one of three top 'investigations.' This investigation, known simply as #3, had a seemingly simple target. It was an assassination mission, which might seem simple enough. But it was who they had to kill that became the problem, even if the 'who's were unaware. The group, however, they were set to kill were more skilled, more talented and far more experienced than the SP, and legend in their own. Mission #3 had another name, actually, called Mission Impossible.

Mission #3 was to kill the Turks.

**

* * *

**

A/N:

Ooh. Another update. Lots of angry people in this chapter, which leads to shocking things. Like a Reffie moment, turned into a Yuffie mad at Reno moment, turned into a Yes Reno is that Smooth moment (as in his can talk himself out of anything.)

About the Title: Quite frankly, I had a hard time naming this. But I thought of htis, and it is spposed to be reminscent of 'Down the Rabbit Hole.' You know, Alice in Wonderland. After all, going through the hole in the morgue drawer symbolizes leaving behind the 'world,' so to speak, of Vincent/Sunshine and of trying to find him and entering the new 'world' or mission, of the plan without him. Also, going through the rabbit hole for Alice represented entering a world where very little made sense and everything was nonsense - well, similarly, everything is getting very confusing for Yuffie. After all, Vincent shoots her down, her rage leads her to make out with Reno, only to find out that Cloud is alive. Not to mention for Reno, this videotape that he obviously doesn't like.

Ack. That's a mouthfull.

About the Quote: From Alice in Wonderland. See 'About the Title.'

Side note: Does anyone here watch NCIS? And if you do, do you not find DiNozzo (Tony) to be just exactly like Reno? Because I do.

Anyway, who is this Parker guy? Remember, the guy who rented Elena the chocobo? And then the very same guy who went to Nibelheim to reveal to us that Cloud is a bastard. Haha, as in literally. Fatherless, student teach relationship. And now transporting a mysterious invalid in a helicopter? What the heck?

I know the answers.

But you don't. So think about it.

And does anyone like these fun tunnels appearing in the seemingly most random places? A washing machine, a morgue drawer and under a mansion is the fun list we have so far.

I'm out. Much love to all my reviewers! Thanks so much, I love each and every one of you.

Note: I had to replace this chapter because of a mistake I noticed that bugged me, so if you're confused because you get a notice saying new chapter when you already read this, don't worry. Not new. Just fixed.

Note 2: Since FF got rid of fricken dashes, I'm going through the chapters and putting in page breaks. Just thought I'd let you know.


	17. To the Rescue

**Chapter 16**

To the Rescue

_"We're our own dragons as well as our own heroes, and we have to rescue ourselves from ourselves."_

When Rude had flown to the Northern Continent, he'd failed to find Elena. Elena, on the other hand, was quite unaware she was being searched for. All she knew was that she was cold, alone, and royally freaked out by that hair. She'd zipped in a plastic bag and put it in her pack .Even carrying it made her feel dirty all over, however ridiculous it might seem. Maybe finding it wasn't what freaked her out - after all, that was where the Final Battle had been - but that there had been no accompanying body.Nothing but a hair that, strangely enough, seemed almost left behind.

She shuddered, and not because of the cold. Thanks to Blur, some of that was being relieved because she'd headed to the less cold section of the Northern Continent, Bone Village .As she came to the village, she was greeted with turned heads and what not. The village was larger than before, as most places had after ShinRa fell. But it was different here - the town expanded when they needed more ground to excavate. Of course they couldn't just leave behind the part they'd already discovered, because there was more to find, it was a hassle and they had to guard the entrance.

"I need to get to the City of the Ancients." She announced. The man in charge, the foreman, turned to her, hands on hips. He looked her up and down.

"And why should I let you go?" he asked. He recognized her as a Turk he'd seen before, not to mention her uniform was partially visible.

She looked him straight in the eye. "Because it's my last hope." She said with complete honesty.

The foreman must have seen something in her, for he retreated to the tent and brought out the Luna Harp. Thankful, she pulled out the money to pay him (it was a big fee, even after you got his permission), but he shook his head. "Go." He said.

So she did.

* * *

He was wet.

That was all he could think of when he came to. Then, as the space above him became less of a blur, he blinked a few times and opened his mouth, to find his throat scratchy and dry. He wanted to ask for water, but a cool glass was pushed to his lips and cold, pure water slid down his raw throat. His eyes slid in and out of focus, and he could vaguely make out a figure above him. He caught a glance of a sad smile on pink lips, before they parted. A hand ran along his forehead and along his hairline, gently tucking a piece of hair behind his ear.

"Shhh," a whisper came, gentle, soft, sad, "don't worry.They'll never find us here."

* * *

When Elena finally reached the City, it was almost eerie. The quiet that cloaked the place, the silence of place long forgotten, was both peaceful and unsettling. She forwent the opportunity to look in the houses, for they were painful reminders of what used to exist. Elena didn't like the thought of being forgotten, becoming extinct. The whole place creeped her out, quite honestly. She fought to keep her head up and went through the hoops and winds that you had to reach her destination.

Her breath caught.

She knew this was where the Flower Girl had been killed. Elena knew, and it made her blood run cold. It was almost as if the silver-haired man would descend once more, and the hair in her pack only made it worse. Though her muscles were frozen with fear, the beauty of the place and an internal pep talk made her press forward. Crossing the stepping stones, she walked up onto the platform, up into the middle.

She had been killed here, Elena knew. And she would have known anyway, for there was blood on the platform. The sun shone down on the stone, and it was all beautiful until you saw the blood. The blood was dried and dark, splattered and telling the awful story of a death, a murder of a pure person. Elena didn't want to think of it, but the blood had another idea.

Trying to shove it out of her mind, she looked up. The whole reason she'd gotten up here was she could see all around. And for some reason, though she had looked around the Ancient City (thought never in the houses), she had felt drawn here, as though something was pulling her on a string. Yet here she felt right, like by reaching the heart of the Forgotten City she'd reached the place her heart had been pulling her.

Looking out on the water, she saw what she was looking for.Baby blue eyes went wide, and without a thought, she ran off the platform and plunged into the water. She plunged down, and opened her eyes. It didn't even hurt, this water, and it was so clear she could see right through. It felt almost unholy, because through the grape vine she'd learned this was the resting place of the Flower Girl, but she couldn't, she didn't care .She swam until her feet hit the shallower part. She stayed away from the side of the pond where the steep drop was, but splashed and sloshed her way to her destination.

Sitting there in the water, as telling as anything, was a dark blue tie. Grabbing it, she turned it over to - sure enough - see the simple gold S that betrayed it as matching to her own tie. That S betrayed it as being the tie of a Turk, matching Elena's own. She found the S on hers, which of course stood for ShinRa, and despite how ridiculous she felt, hugged it to her chest. He'd been here, and recently, because part of the tie was still dry.

But, looking closer, she saw that part of the tie was darker, a color different. Almost a purple, even, and her stomach sank. Finding a dry spot, where the tie had been above the water, she saw it was red. And it was red, and it was fresh. Her stomach sank, because it was blood, and recent.Since part of the tie was dry, it meant He had been here, and very recently since water hadn't overtaken the tie.

Her breath caught, and she realized how close the Drop was to here. Her heart clenched in a cold fist, she walked to the drop and peered through the crystal clear water.

Bodies floated. Right? But The Flower Girl wasn't on top of the lake. But then again, that had been a while ago…bodies floated.

He was alive. She knew he was. Hope was born again, and she clutched the tie.

He was alive, and he was here or had been. She was catching up.

She was going to find him.

* * *

Whatever this person had done, he was feeling more awake, more aware and more alive than he had in a long while. He'd succumbed to the blackness, but he was fighting it now, and he could see more than before. The person, it was a woman, and she was still with him. They'd moved, somehow, though he wouldn't know how this girl could move him. Vaguely, ever so vaguely, she was familiar.

Seeing he was awake, she looked down, and his vision was getting sharper but what stuck out were blue eyes and blonde hair, so familiar."Someone's here." She whispered. "So we have to be quiet. She hasn't come in any of the houses, and Parker should be here soon, but until then, we must be quiet."

He was still wet, and still confused, and his vision was fading again. He was feeling healthier, better than many times before, but right now, he just wanted to sleep. So he let his eyes drift shut and let her coax him back into sleep.

* * *

Elena had come out of the water and made a quick search of her surroundings, even calling out his name a few times. Eventually she was making her way back through the City, glancing anxiously at the houses. Could he be in one? Perhaps, but wouldn't he have responded to her?

Not wanting to go inside those houses made her feel very rookie-like again, so she straightened her back and started out at the first house she came to, gun out and clearing the area. Caught in the moment, she managed to forget her irrational fear of the houses, and the feeling she was disturbing something. Memories of being a Turk under Shinra, even if her time had been short, came flooding back, of being trained on how to clear areas. She was ashamed to admit she almost missed it. Not that she would miss killing innocent people - she still hadn't grown immune like Reno and Rude, though she wished she was - but she missed having her mission spelled out for her, straightforward. She had a purpose now, but it was all guesswork, all smoke and shattered mirrors.

So involved, she never thought to look up. If she had, she would see, in the distance, a chopper approaching. Oddly enough, it seemed silent, the blades not chopping through the air violently, but smoothly and softly. Had she of started earlier, moved faster maybe, she might have caught a girl hoisting the man she was searching for onto a chocobo (albeit, with difficulty and much colorful language), and she would have seen the girl climb on and urge the chocobo out of the city long forgotten.

But she wasn't, and she found her search all in vain. That was, until, she reached a house that wasn't particularly special. Not isolated, but in the middle of a row - a house that fitted in nicely. When she walked in, she only saw it out of the corner of her eye. But she saw it and pivoted. Walking over, she found water on the floor, and a few shoeprints left by the water. Following the shoeprints, they led to the door. The shoeprints looked as though they were walking in, but they were odd. Instead of even and a pattern, they were oddly spaced, some close, so far, as though they were struggling to walk. But more interesting was next to the shoeprints was what could be called another set. Though the first set near the puddle were prints, from there they were blurred, and the trail revealed that someone was dragged out. And looking at the first pair of prints, they were the standard issue Turk shoes.

And the prints next to them were smaller. And they were backwards.

She had thought they were the prints of walking in, but with the drag marks, a story unfolded.Elena could picture a girl dragging Tseng, struggling with the heavier weight. Her steps were labored and she held Tseng around the middle, his legs stretched out and dragged along the ground. It had to be a girl, after all, because of the size of the prints, and the fact they had managed - even with a struggle - to get Tseng out.

Elena didn't like this. Someone had taken Tseng, stolen him, and who knew who it was or what they were going to do. But this had turned from a simple Missing Person mission to a kidnapping, a hostage situation with their very own fellow Turk.

So the shoes lost the water and thus the prints disappeared, and though Elena kept searching the house and the City, she could find nothing further. But she knew this:

Someone had Tseng. And it was Elena's job to find him. For once, it was Elena's job to be the rescuer.

* * *

Shera was cold and alone, and tears ran down her cheeks. She sat huddled against the side of the tunnel that seemed long, never ending even. But maybe that was because she was walking for two, and with every step her legs were heavier and heavier. She was afraid to sleep, but she had to, though every time she thought she was going to wake up with Auhncore's men standing over her, wanting to take her baby away from her.

The end was near. But she was too frightened to what it would lead to, where she might be. What if it led to Auhncore, to the men who wanted her baby? She knew she was near the end, because she had seen the light shining through the cracks of another hatch, the light making a large ring that beckoned her. But she was too afraid.

She was going mad. That's what it felt like, anyway, stuck in this endless tunnel with a flickering light every so often, offering eerie and dim illumination. But the lights had flickered out at one point, leaving her in the blackness that was scaring her so much. She was racked with sobs, and the stress was overwhelming. And so she was sobbing and she couldn't stop.

A stabbing pain.

She felt as though she'd been violently punched, and her eyes bulged as she clutched at her stomach. Somewhere deep inside, she knew it was a contraction. That only made her whimper and tears run down her cheeks even more.

"Not now, not now," she whimpered pathetically, pleading to the sky she couldn't see, to whoever was up there."Not now, not here, please, please."

Another contraction and she nearly yelped, and she was crying and hurting and hated it so much.

Suddenly, a light shone. She looked to the right, terrified, and that's where the light was coming from. She could see the light of a flashlight bobbing and moving around the tunnel. She tried to huddle in on herself, tried to draw her knees in, but of course her stomach wouldn't let her. Shera tried to sink in with the walls of the tunnel, tried to disappear, but she couldn't.

The light searched, moving around as it bobbed, growing larger in closer. Finally, as it came closer, it found her and shone on her pale, sweaty face. She gave a pathetic whine, whimpering as the person came closer. The light went to her stomach back to her face, and she couldn't move from the light, only stare in fear.

The person was right in front of her, and it was a man with light brown hair that was unkempt, falling across his forehead and a few parts threatening to fall into his green eyes. He knelt in front of her, flashlight still trained on her face. He reached out and put a hand on her arm. She recoiled.

"I'm not one of them, Shera." He said gently."My name is Parker, and I'm going to take care of you."

* * *

Parker smiled down at Shera for comfort, but inside he was frowning. She had the unmistakable signs of contractions, but she couldn't be more than six, seven months at the most. He's seen this before, and so he put his flashlight down but kept it on to give some light to the area.

Parker had been on many tasks for The Group lately, since he was the Head of it. His cover was running that chocobo business that was a chain now, and gave him an excuse to travel. He hadn't been caring for the business much, however. Though, as previously mentioned, he'd been busy. After he'd rented the chocobo to the Turk, Elena, he'd kept an eye on her as she headed for the North Crater. But he hadn't much time to do that, for he was notified of Kisaragi meeting Skye Strife, and had gotten there as fast as he could. Yuffie was gone, but he'd confronted Skye Strife, but had failed to change her mind. There was trouble brewing there, but right now, they couldn't do a thing. Then another member of the group had needed him for immediate transport of the supposedly dead Turk, since his wound was not only failing to heal, but had suddenly gotten much worse.

So Parker was a busy bee, but he'd gotten the other member to drop him off on her way, for the task he'd been trying to get at for a while now needed immediate care.

He knew that Shera Highwind had escaped from Auhncore's clutches, and he knew how, but he had to find her before the wrong people did. This whole ordeal was a race, and Auhncore might have the heroes, but damn them if they would get anyone else. The Group had already found Wallace's daughter, Marlene, and taken her into protection, and now that Auhncore was after Shera as well, the Group was saving her too. There was only one more member with family, and that was Kisaragi. Yet if they tried to take the ruler of a nation, there would be an uprising, and they wouldn't dare pull a stunt like that.

"Shera." He said, using a calm tone but one that stressed the importance of his words."I need you to take a few deep breaths. Stress can cause premature labor contractions, and you need to calm down.You've had a lot of stress, but you have to calm down for your baby."

She whimpered and shook her head, murmuring, "I can't, I can't," as she cried. He took her shoulders in his hands firmly and stared her straight in the eye.

"Look at me Shera. Look me straight in the eye. You can do this. You are strong."

She shook her head, tears welling.

"Yes, Shera, you are. Look at me. Repeat after me. You are strong."

"I am strong," she bleated weakly.

"Good girl, good girl! Now, again. I am strong."

"I am strong," Shera said, more firmly than before.

"Yes! Yes!"

"I am strong." She said, voice growing. As she spoke, her tears ebbed. Her breathing was growing deeper and more even, rather than panicked, short and hyperventilated.

"You are strong!"

"I am strong!" she said, and as the contractions ebbed away.

They stayed like that, staring into the others eyes with confidence, waiting as Shera's breathing was long and even, and all signs of labor passed.

"Now come on, Shera." He said, and put an arm around her shoulder to help her to her feet."I said it before. I'm going to take care of you."

And he could tell by the way she looked at him that she believed him.

* * *

Cloud had tried Rude's cell phone a million and one times. Irritated, he walked over to the couch and sat down. It had been three days now since Rude left, with no instructions. True, it was early morning, but Cloud hated sitting here, doing nothing.

Kylie came plodding out in her PJs and slippers, yawning, her hair in two pigtail-buns on top of her head. She rubbed at her eye before grabbing a banana from the kitchen, and joining Cloud on the couch. She grinned at him, and stretched out, her feet pushing against his leg as she rested them there.She ate in silence for a little while, finishing her fruit and tossing the peel into the trash can from the couch. They sat for a while, neither saying a word. Finally, she sat cross legged.

"So I think we should just go ahead and do it." She said, turning to him, eyes alight with mischief.

"No." Cloud said point-blankly.

Kylie frowned at him."Why not?" she asked, and she must have realized she sounded like a petulant child, for she sighed. "We know what to do. We know how to do it. And, let's face it, there is no way you can convince this woman and become friends with her within the time period. So we're changing up the plan."

Cloud didn't say anything, because she had a point. Why should they wait for Rude? "But we don't know the information he wants." Cloud said.

Kylie's lips curved into a smile."Correction." She said."_You_ don't know what information he wants. I do."

So the plan unfolded. Kylie would take Cloud's spot, as she was much more experienced and could pull off the role, unlike Cloud. Kylie knew that the woman visited the HoneyBee every now and then to try to convince some of the hookers that they didn't have to live like this, that they didn't have to be used and abused by men just for money. Sometimes she got one or two, usually newbies, but the old ones always stayed.

"Rude has formed this plan so it wouldn't use me, but with me, it is so much less complicated." Kylie said.

Apparently, the woman had been trying to get Kylie out of the slums, since she had correctly identified Kylie as the heart of the knot that was the sisterhood, the unofficial leader of them all. If she could get Kylie, she could get them all.

So Kylie would let the woman see her crying outside, and would then take Kylie and Cloud, under the guise as a new fellow hooker, and take them and 'rescue' them. Kylie told him that she often showed the 'finished product' off at a party or a 'Ladies' Night' whichever one came first. At that point, Kylie would occupy her so that Cloud could sneak into the information den she kept below her House. After all, Cloud was more qualified than she in that part.

It was true that Kylie's version was far simpler than Rude's. "And we must act fast. So I'll get you in your girl clothes, and she's visiting tonight. So this is all very sudden, but we can do it." She said.

And Cloud nodded, because she was right. She had qualities of a leader, though not a huge leader, and Cloud knew this was the only way. But there was one question he still must ask.

"So what am I looking for?" he asked.

She grinned."You actually aren't looking for anything. You are going to go to her information room and, under the pretext of it being a computer, copy the information onto disks, and then destroy all but your copies of it."

Cloud remained stoic."So we're striking back." He said.

She grinned."Auhncore is going down."

* * *

Lucky for them, shortly into the walk down the tunnel they had found a little outcropping. In this was a vehicle much like a golf cart, and a slightly larger vehicle with a long bed used for transport. The keys were with the machines, so they took the golf cart and put their luggage in the provided storage space. Yuffie was jammed in between the driver, Rude, and Reno, and it wasn't the comfiest arrangement. She was grumpy, tired, and had lost time perception already. How much time had passed underground? Would they still be selling chimi-chongas on the surface? She groaned.

"Relax, Brat. Go back to sleep."

It was true she'd napped for a bit of the trip. And she knew they must be passing through an ocean, or already had, but the trip was taking forever and a day. And still they plugged along.

"We're here." Rude said.He stopped the cart, and Yuffie looked up.

In front of them was a ring of light, large, and it had to be another hatch. Rude found a handle on the inside, and gave a mighty push. Yuffie was nearly blinded by the pouring in of light, and Reno had jumped out and taken over the wheel. Rude had climbed out of the hatch, and Yuffie and Reno were quick to follow.Climbing out, they found themselves in a room that was a circle. And the hatch they came out of swung close courtesy of Rude, and they stood in the middle, seeing their hatch was - unsurprisingly - labeled Mideel. Looking around, they saw a hatch each for Junon, Kalm and Midgar. These were in addition to the hatch for Mideel, and a hatch each for the Northern and Western Continents.

Rude walked over to the hatch labeled Kalm and yanked it open.Yuffie groaned, and looked at Rude, knowing she was being annoying and not caring."I'm tired of traveling underground." She whined.

"Then we will just burst through the ground above us to get you out." Rude said, and though he deadpanned with no tone or inflection, it was obvious he was being sarcastic.

She gaped."Sarcasm from Rude? What is this?"

Reno smirked.

"And afterwards, the universe will explode for your pleasure." Rude finished, and stepped into the hatch.

Reno, chuckling, followed. Yuffie groaned, threw her luggage in the hatch and went to the golf-cart like vehicle also in this tunnel. Of course, the machines were faster than golf carts, much faster, but the trip still seemed to take an eternity."Here it goes again." She sighed.

* * *

The plan had taken form. So after wrestling Cloud into his ladylike attire (and he was an attractive female, and he looked very much like a girl), they went down the HoneyBee. It was only eight o'clock, so there were very few men there, since most of the business came in the later, and earlier, hours of the night.People greeted Kylie, asking her where she'd been. Kylie explained she was staying with her brother.

Those who had helped 'create' Cloud, or Nikki, winked, and Kylie introduced him to the others as 'a new girl.'Then Kylie led him to the costume room, and got him a costume he could fit into.Much to him displeasure, once he changed he found himself in the costume of…well, a honeybee. A sexy bunny, that was, and the costume had fishnets (that once again, made his legs appear lady-like), a leotard with black and yellow stripes, yellow tight shorts, a bow tie, tiny wings and…a stinger. Kylie was holding in her laughter, because though he looked nothing more than a sexy girl (it was painful to admit), Kylie knew who he was. "Go ahead," he sighed, and she let loose her laughter.

When they emerged, Kylie was wearing a HoneyBee tank top and jean short-shorts.They stayed out of sight until 10:30.

"Alright." Kylie said, turning to him."She'll be here in a half hour. She's always on time."

Cloud nodded. Now he was to go out and 'entertain.'

He hated this.

"But there's one more thing you need to do…" she said, looking him straight in the eye.

He didn't like her tone.

"What?" he asked cautiously.

"I need you to punch me." She said, and pointed to her cheek."Right there.It needs to bruise."

He stepped back, nearly falling because he was in stilettos. "No." he said firmly."_No._"

"Cloud. I need you to do this."

"No." he said."Fake it. Makeup. Get another girl to slap you."

She shook her head."Slaps are very girly.I need an honest to god punch.This woman knows the real deal."

"No." Cloud said."I won't do it. No."

Her face set, as though she'd decided something, and her lips were a line. She sighed, and then crossed her arms."I guess all they say about you is wrong then." She said."You're not brave.You're just a chicken."

He shook his head."I know what you're doing."

"I mean, they all talk about the 'Brave Cloud Strife' and how he 'saved us all.'Guess that's a load of shit, huh?"

He ignored her.Besides, nothing she was saying was getting him upset. Not in the least.

"I mean, maybe if you weren't such a chicken, you could have saved her."

She saw it in his eyes, the way they bulged. Boom - sore spot.

He glared at her. There was no way she could know about that."Excuse me?"

"Yea, Rude told me about it. I always assumed that you couldn't help it, but now…"

Anger was welling up in him, and it was painful.This was going over the line, and she had to know that - that's why she was doing it.

"You were probably just too afraid to try and save her."

She kept going, and he was reaching boiling point. She had picked the exact sore spot, the pressure point, the exact button to push.

"I mean, she probably was better off without you."

Rage exploded, red-hot and filling."You want me to punch you?" he finally exploded, upset and shaking."Fine!" His hand balled into a fist, and he swung at her. He heard it make contact with a crack, and she fell backwards onto the couch, legs sprawled over the arm and the side, and she held her cheek.

He shook out his hand, and was nearly crying.How pathetic, how shameful. Besides, he was going to make his mascara run. _Well_, he mused inwardly. _That was an extremely gay thought. _But he immediately felt guilty, because tears were in her eyes as well, and she was clutching her face. They both knew the punch hadn't been his strongest, even in his rage unable to go so far.

"Nice one," she finally croaked, and grinned."Exactly the point."

Her cheek was rapidly turning from red to purple and black and blue, and other dreadful colors of a bruise. She inspected it, and blinked a few times to get rid of the tears - or perhaps to get them flowing."Showtime," she said, and then closed her eyes for a moment or two. When she reopened them, the tears started flowing like no other.

Now she would go outside in a setting where she would be seen, and Cloud had to go out. Feeling guilty and horrible, he walked out in his heels. He was greeted with a few whistles and a "Hey baby, new around here?"

There were girls sitting on men's laps and whispering in their ears and giggling, a few leading men into rooms and other still serving drinks and finger foods. Cloud, luckily, had a tray thrust at him. A girl who'd helped with his transformation winked. "I have your back, boy." She said under her breath.

So he served drinks until one drunk fellow grinned up at him, and without a word to her…him…Cloud, yanked Cloud into his lap. Luckily the tray was empty, and Cloud didn't spill anything, but wriggled out of the mans grasp. "Aw, baby, come here."

He managed to stand and scamper to the bar, leaving the man wondering how someone who seemed so thin could weigh so much. He got a refill, and glanced at the clock. 11. She'd be here.

The Head of the Information Department, a subdivision of the Information Branch, was in the slums. She was required to at least three guards, members of the SP, but she always came down here at least once a month, usually the third Saturday on the month with other visits in between.Kim Banks wouldn't force anyone to leave, but she was there for anyone who wanted an out, who needed an escape. So as she was approaching the Honey Bee, her three SP guards at her back.

When she was about to walk in, despite the music and noise coming from the Honey Bee, she heard a faint sound. Brow furrowing, she followed the sound around the side, into the alley, and two of the SP at her back kept their hand by their holsters. She waved them off, however, when she saw a girl huddled in the alleyway, crying, her hand on her cheek.

Kim walked over and knelt by the girl, recognizing it as Kylie. Kylie was a girl she'd been hoping would see she had a way out, since Kylie was seen as a leader among the girls. If Kylie saw that she didn't have to live this way, the other girls might follow. Kim put a hand on the girl's arm, and Kylie looked up, her eyes red with tears. Across her cheek was a bruise, swollen and painful and the girl looked downtrodden, defeated.

A few quiet sobs racked her form, and she bit her bottom lip. "I'm so tired of this," she said, and they were the words Kim knew so well.

"I know, I know. I'm going to help you." She said.

Just then, the side door burst open and a beautiful blonde dressed in the Honeybee Bee costume came out, holding herself tightly. She fell against the wall. Kim looked at her."Honey," she said, and the blonde looked up, the type too proud to cry, even when about to break."I'm going to take care of both of you."

They both looked up and smiled, and Kim loved the moment when she could save someone.

If only someone had done the same for her.

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry it took so long to get this update up, life has been crazy. A friend of mine passed away...yeah. But here this is.

So the title is rather obvious as every secion of the chapter deals with saving someone in some way, or rescuing. So I don't feel need to go into detail too much, but that's bascially what thats all about. The quote has more to do with the story on a whole than this particular chapter, but relates to the chapter too.

Otherwise, in this chapter we have a lot of loose ends coming together, people rounding up together. It might not be very obvious but people are rounding up. And after the next two chapters at most, maybe just one, we will have a time jump. That's when things will really start rolling. Whoo! Yay time jump.

So as for the actual chapter, we have here Tseng, alive. Oh emm gee, I so did not see that coming. And who is this blondie who's keeping him from Elena? Friend or foe? Or better question, friend of who and foe of who? And who is this Parker who has taken Shera and her unborn child with him? He's everywhere! And whose side is he on? Well I know. You don't. And Kylie and Cloud have gone AWOL and decided ot do the mission without Rude or any other guidance. What consequences might that have? By the way, consider that the end of the Parker section and the Cloud, Kylie, Kim section before the time jump.

So what are our answers? Tune in for next chapter of Guiding- Hate Your Heroes.

By the way, I'm not sure if I ever celebrated 200 reviews, but if I didn't...Whoo! 200 Reviews! Actually more like almost 250 now. Yay! Also, we have about 92 favorites and 93 alerts, almost 100 on each count. Yayy! In the bad news department, the last chapter was the least reviewed chapter since chapter 12. Booo. I'm not saying I'm a reviews whore, but feedback is loved.

But much love to all my reviewers! Hope you all enjoy the chapter!

**Update:** Apparently Fanfiction doesn't allow dashes anymore, which is ridiculous, as dashes are used is writing. I tell this site grates on my nerves sometimes...and no more two spaces in a row, or it deletes them both. What is this? So I just had to go through my whole chapter and make it single spaced after a sentence, though the writing format I was taught teaches two spaces after a period...well, whatever. Getting upset over spilled milk. Well, thanks those who've reviewed so far, much love! And thanks to Cranberry Widow, who clued me in that the dashes I use to seperate segments are also gone, so I have to use page breaks, which I hate. Bah.

Actually I just looked at my chapters and all my dashes that seperate are gone. What? Has it always been like that? I could have sworn...no I know they used to be there. Goddamnit...


	18. No Matter What

**Chapter 17**

No Matter What

_"__What you need to know about the past is that **no matter** what has happened, it has all worked together to bring you to this very moment. And this is the moment you can choose to make everything new. Right now.__"_

Finally, the light at the end of the tunnel. Literally, because their little advanced golf-cart reached another ring of light in the dimly lit tunnel that signified the hatch that must link to Kalm. Rude got out again, and again opened up the hatch. Yuffie and Reno climbed out, getting their luggage of sorts, Yuffie with her Conformer, pack and Halliburton briefcase and Reno with a small duffel bag. Walking to the room that was bursting with institutional light, the hatch was shut behind them by Rude. The room was creepily clean, sterile, sending Yuffie's mind back to the second basement. To the dissected man.

Hojo. Alive.

She shook her head as though she could send the thoughts flying out her ear, and watched Rude carefully test the ladder and begin his ascent. Yuffie went to follow him, but Reno shook his head. This ladder wasn't as long as some others, but Rude still a ways up when his call came. "All clear."

Reno and Yuffie followed, Yuffie encountering some difficulty due to the stupid briefcase, and finally they came to the top. Just as previously stated, the house was the one Cloud had found all the stuff lying around in. Yuffie was at last satisfied for something that she had long ago wondered about. The boxes didn't litter the floor as much as before, the few left pushed into a corner.

Reno and Rude went about setting up camp while Yuffie stood next to the large plant pot they had just climbed out. The plant pot was about the same size of the washing machine hole Yuffie had first climbed into. Next to it was the incredibly realistic, yet fake, small tree it housed with realistic, yet fake, soil. Yuffie put the 'lid' of sorts back on the hole at the bottom of the pot and replaced the plant, with some difficulty. Then, she walked upstairs and claimed her room. This would be their base for a while, apparently, while they got everything in order, found Elena and made plans to free her friends.

Immediately she showered, got dressed in green sweats that she'd cut off into Capri pants, socks and a white tee shirt that was fitted and had a scoop neck. Comfy, she put her hair in a tiny high ponytail, and brought her briefcase downstairs along with her lock picks. Settling on the couch, she went to work.

She heard a vague snort. Looking up, Reno was looking down at her and shaking his head. She scowled at him as he plopped down next to her and turned on the TV. Yuffie looked around. "Where's Rude?" she asked.

Reno raised an eyebrow. "Princess, he left. You've been working on that thing for a half-hour."

She looked at the clock, rubbing her eyes. True, a half hour had passed. It was dark out, thought that didn't say much since it had been dark when they came.

The door then opened, however, and the Bald Turkey walked in. "What's shakin?" Yuffie asked.

"Scoped out the town." Rude said, as though he was reporting to her. "No one is out."

Reno raised an eyebrow, turning away from the show he was watching. "Well," he said, "it is late."

Rude shook his head. "Not a single light on. Not a single teenager. It's like the whole town is on curfew."

"Maybe they are." Reno said.

On that thought, both Turks moved and turned out every light in the house, and prepared for bed. When they finally realized Yuffie hadn't said a word for a while, they walked down the stairs to check up on her. They found the girl curled up on the couch, sound asleep, the silver briefcase resting between her legs and body, clutched to her like a teddy bear.

Reno snorted, but Rude didn't miss the quirking of the redhead's lips, and the faint shake of the head. "Leave her." Reno said, and walked back upstairs.

Rude looked at the girl, who was all of seventeen or eighteen (he hadn't bothered to ask), alone in the world, the only person she could have relied on having left her helpless. The youngest of them all, and it was her against the world.

Rude shook his head, walked upstairs and went to bed.

--

"Damn it!" Jamison Auhn exclaimed. Jessie stood in front of his desk, flinching as he slammed his hands on the desk, but standing tall, her shoulders back. She'd changed since he'd found her, or perhaps went back to what she used to be before she felt so in debt to him. A calm, cool eye stared down at him, the look almost steely. Her back was straight, and she was resigned to a beating. "You mean to tell me that not only has Marlene Wallace, the M Case, disappeared into thin air, as you told me a little while ago, but so has the pilot's wife, Shera? Goddamn, Jessie."

Jessie kept her resolve. "The M Case, the S Case, the G Case, they're all under Investigation Family, or Family Watch. The FW."

"Who the hell names these things Roberts?" Jamison grumbled.

"We prefer to keep it simple as possible. These are high profile, so simple does the job."

"Well, don't tell me the 'G Case' has gone awry as well." Auhn said.

Jessie sighed. "Sir, the G Case is notably different from the former two. All three cases are unique. With the M Case, she was a child who was at first under the care of the Ancient's mother, then on the run when she came in contact with the heroes-"

Suddenly, Jamison Auhn's face darkened, worse than before. It was like a thunderstorm was passing across his face, eyes like lightning. "What did you just call them?" he said darkly, lowly.

She paled as she realized her mistake. "Forgive me, it's a common term."

His teeth ground against one another. His arms were shaking, as though any moment he would reach across the desk and strangle Jessie. "Keep going," he said in that rumble of a voice, quiet and scary.

"Well," she said, shaking it off, "as you recall, we captured Marlene Wallace once before to force her father into custody. To make him come peacefully, however, we had to release her. After that, she went on the run from us, for we were still trying to watch her. She also came in contact with a member of AVALANCHE, and we wanted to bring her in again, despite the deal we made with her father."

Jamison nodded, calming down.

"But after we found the cell phone abandoned in the church, and her possible escape route that was only small enough for a child, she just…disappeared. Off the face of the map. Being a child, as I told you before, this wasn't totally unexpected or odd. If alive, which we are assuming she is, it would be very easy for her to avoid us."

Jessie Roberts paused, "Yet now the pilot's wife has disappeared as well. Again it is unique in that we never planned to apprehend her before her pregnancy became apparent. Also, the earlier relationship was a father-daughter, M being the daughter. Now it is a husband-wife, S being the wife. We've come into her house many times to try to apprehend her, and on one of those visits we discovered she is pregnant. Oddly, she was never there. Further visits showed she was still living there, but somehow knew we were coming or hid. Well, on the last raid it we stayed to see if she showed up. Then we watched the house, but no sign. We left, and just checked up again. But she's gone. Literally, vanished. None of the townspeople saw her leave, under threat of death, and no one knows where she has gone."

Auhn took a deep breath, eyes steady. "And the G Case?"

"Again, unique. Quite the opposite from the M. This time it is the father-daughter relationship, with G being the father. But we dare not touch him. We've stretched our boundaries enough by stationing so many soldiers in Wutai. But he is the leader of a nation, the only one left since the Kisaragi girl is on the run. If we even try to touch him, the nation will rise up against us. The ShinRa-Wutai war was long, ugly and bloody. Wutai is a nation of ninjas, and it was General Sephiroth who ensured our win, and Turks and SOLDIERs didn't hurt either. Godo is being watched, but we can only see so much."

Auhn then smiled, the kind of smirk that curled onto a face, the kind that made his eyes dance with a secret only he knew. "Well. Some things never die, Jessie."

"Excuse me?"

He said nothing else, turning in his chair to look out over his domain. He left Jessie not only utterly confused, but with a pit in her stomach and a bad taste in her mouth. "Just remember that not all things that seem smart turn out that way - sir." She said, not even sure of what she was saying, but wanting to rid of this tumultuous feeling in her stomach.

He didn't acknowledge her, but she saw his face reflected in the glass, as well as her own. His lips twitched down, and she stared ahead at their reflections, before turning and walking out, shutting the door behind her.

"Some things need to die," Jessie said softly, ever so softly, to herself and the empty hallway.

--

Rufus Shinra was no longer in Wutai. After his enigmatic meeting with Godo Kisaragi, he'd kept his word and looked around Wutai for any sign of the gunner. Of course, he didn't break anything looking, but hey, he'd given it a shot. Point was, he'd done what he needed to do in Wutai. Now he was on a boat (which was not fun in a wheelchair) on his way to the Eastern Continent. Rude had called him and informed him that they were picking up Elena and taking her to their 'base' of sorts in Kalm.

Rufus was not going to Kalm.

The boat was docking, and he was currently in an empty room fitted with a couple beds. He sat on the bed, the wheelchair at the corner of the room. He rolled his eyes, wishing he could give up the stupid thing, but in all truth it was rather convenient. After all, who would expect Rufus Shinra to be in a wheelchair?

The boat finally stopped, and Rufus walked to his chair and hoisted himself in, wheeling unsteadily out of the cabin and onto the boat. On the boarding dock, people gave him little notice except looks of either pity, curiosity or annoyance. After all, he got priority to get off the boat. Rolling down the little dock, he found himself at the docks in Junon.

The boat from Wutai had stopped first in Costa de Sol, where everyone on board either got off or switched to a boat headed for Junon. Some people would be headed to Mideel after this, or even the Northern Continent, though it wasn't often a boat headed up there.

But now he must head to Midgar, and Rufus did not ride chocobos. He would have to rent a car, which meant he would leave the wheelchair behind briefly. After all, supposedly being paralyzed from the waist down gets in the way of driving.

Yet still, as he mapped out his plan in his head, a smirk curled onto his lips. Everything was going according to plan. But his smirk flickered, as he remembered that wasn't so. Valentine hadn't gone with the Kisaragi girl. Still the smirk prevailed, because he knew these people. He knew that Valentine would come.

Rufus was counting on it.

--

When he'd first seen her, he hadn't really seen her at all. He'd been all of eight years old, strutting around the slums like he owned the place. He'd been with a few of his friends, snickering as they kicked sleeping bums and howling when the bumbling drunks woke screaming about nonsense. They laughed as they dipped their fingers into pockets and snaked what little things they had in there, even if it was something as useless as a marble. 

As aforementioned, he hadn't really seen her at all. They turned onto the decrepit playground, to wait and see if the carriage that occasionally passed, bearing women or even just one at a time. By now they'd terrorized the driver enough that he'd toss them something when he'd pass, just to not be harassed by the fire-headed slum rat and his little buddies. Reno and his eight other friends scrambled around various pieces of the playground, occasionally harassing passerbyers that passed into Wall Street, getting tired or annoyed shouts back. Reno was taking his normal perch on top of the animal shaped slide, and was hopping up when he heard a muffled noise. Curious, he looked down to see the lump of fabric at the top of the slide moving. When the ratty blanket finally moved, a blonde head peered out first sleepily, then the little face contorted into anger.

"You kicked me." She accused. "Stupid."

Reno stopped, and the other boy fell silent. Apparently, this little twit didn't realize she was up against nine boys, all older than her. She stood, hands on hips and face all anger, but she couldn't be older than a measly five. Reno frowned at her, and the boys exchanged a look and smirked. Stopping climbing, Reno stood down and glared down at her, a glare that would make most five year olds piss themselves, and he towered over her, tall for his age and the epitome of menace. 

Most five year olds would have quaked in their booties.

This little brat, however, glared and promptly raised her leg to forcefully kick him in the lower stomach. There was enough force behind the kick that caught him by surprise and knocked him back, successfully knocking him off the slide and onto the mulch covered ground. The boys looked shocked, but suddenly started cracking up. Reno lay in a crumpled heap at the bottom, and she bit her lip, obviously realizing she would be in trouble if she didn't get out of there. So she, grumpy from being woken, slid down the slide and marched off with her tattered blanket.

In the fall, Reno had broken his right arm.

--

Reno awoke with a start, and then scowled. The damn videotape was getting into his mind. Shoving away the old memory that had surfaced in a dream, he stretched and swung his legs out of bed. He walked to the bathroom and grabbed a shower, dressing in sweats and an undershirt. Toweling off his hair, he put everything into place before heading downstairs.

Rude was gone. He'd woken Reno at roughly 3 AM to tell him that Elena called and was in Junon, having taken a cargo boat from the Northern Continent. She was heading their way on chocobo. And Rude said he was meeting her, having called a friend in Mideel to bring the ol' helicopter. They were lucky that shock trauma helicopters and Auhncore helicopters were more common, or they might stand out more. He was going to brief Elena, but they were all going to wait for the real meeting and sharing until they got back. Of course, they couldn't land the copter, so they would be dropped off and the friend would take the helicopter to a landing pad. This 'friend' was a pilot who used to work with ShinRa, and was still friendly with the Turks, even with their status of aiding and abetting.

Heading downstairs, he saw the ninja was still asleep on the couch, though the briefcase had slid off her lap. Yet with the first creak of the staircase she jolted awake, jumping up and turning in perfect battle stance. She blinked a couple times, before realizing where she was and she remembered that Reno was no longer an enemy, or perhaps that it was Reno and there was no need. She plopped back down, embarrassed.

"You do that every time you wake up?" he asked, walking to the kitchen. He looked at her as he poured a bowl of Lucky Charms, and she stood up and walked over. Her hair was falling out of the short ponytail she'd made, and she plodded over in high white socks and green cutoff sweats. The kitchen was attached to the other rooms, though the tile and carpet distinctly marked which room was which. She ignored him.

"What is it with you and that cereal?" she asked.

He, in turn, ignored her and sat down with his bowl. She leaned on the table now, looking at the bowl and the box. "Must be the leprechaun, right? You guys share the same ancestry, right? I mean, the hair is an obvious tip off."

He ate his cereal happily, smirking up at her from a mouthful of marshmallows.

He didn't take her bait, and she frowned. Hesitating for only a moment, she sat down and poured herself a bowl. At his chuckle, she stuck out her tongue. They both turned back to their bowls of cereal, eating with nothing but the sound of crunching and scooping up of milk and marshmallows. When they were finished, Yuffie looked up. "So where's-"

It was at that moment that the door opened suddenly. Reno's hand was on his gun and his gun in the air, pointed at the door with nearly the same speed Yuffie grabbed her Conformer from where it leaned against the wall.

Elena stood there, and looked taken aback by the weapons pointed at her. Reno's arms slackened and gave her a reproachful look before dropping his gun. Yuffie did likewise, even though it wasn't normal to lower her weapon in the face of a Turk.

"Rookie." Reno barked, half-playfully. "Why, exactly, don't we barge into rooms we know highly trained fighters are staying?"

Elena looked sheepish, but to her credit, straightened and didn't lose face. "Because I might get shot, Reno." The blonde said, putting an emphasis on not calling Reno 'boss' or anything of the like.

Rude followed her in, stoic as ever. "Let's not delay. Elena, you start."

So Elena started her briefing, describing her lack of leads anywhere in the Northern Continent, but leaving the part about Tseng and Sephiroth's hair out. She felt she would fill Reno and Rude in on this particular part of her journey when they were alone, without the ninja brat hanging onto every word. These were Turk matters anyway.

Next they moved to Rude, who basically said that his lack of leads was expected because of Reno's findings.

Sure enough, Reno told the story of being in Mideel when he stumbled upon a conversation about a local police officer's accident 6 months previous, and the changes in the man who was normally bright in sunny to 'a bit darker and more serious.' Running with the lead he found the story in the newspaper and when pictures were compared by hand, the men looked alike enough to be passable (and any differences chalked up to the reconstructive surgery), and a run in the computer against Valentine's picture returned a positive match. Reno followed Sunshine for a bit, and it was locked in when he saw the man in a shooting range, making perfect headshots in Valentine's classic pose. That's when he called Yuffie.

The lead in was the obvious time for Yuffie to pick up the narrative, and she did so, but tightly. "Reno and I managed to be part of a - staged - crime event. When I 'assaulted' quote unquote the police officer named Brody, I was taken in. Once alone I questioned Vincent but he insisted he was not. But he had found my Conformer, and dropped a hint and an invitation to meet once again that told me he knew who I was. So we met again and exchanged stories, but my request for help was denied. We left. End of story."

The brisk, cold and detached way of telling the story was taken under the cover of reporting, and no one asked any questions. But Yuffie was losing face, and she could feel it in the way her muscles quavered from being clenched too long, in her shaking fingers that she'd clamped into fists. And looked down.

"It's just us then." Yuffie said dejectedly.

There was a moment in the sentence where she tried to hide the blatant hopelessness and emptiness of her statement, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. But despair and emptiness was there, as raw and throbbing as a burn, changing from hopelessness to rage and fury at abandonment.

"But we don't need him," she stated, rage seething under her sentence, frothing up under the statement. Her face was twisted into a mix of determination and anger, eyes ablaze and forehead creased, jaw set and teeth clenched.

The Turks looked at each other. Yuffie looked at them, and at the look they shared, as if their Turkly minds were being Turkishly psychic and communicating in some odd Turkly language that butted people out of line and kept others from understanding. Her eyes widened as Reno turned, and she somehow caught onto the waves of Turkalepathy (she'd been spending too much time with them.) "Oh no. You're not leaving me too." Yuffie shook her head and stared them in the eyes, rage spiking her growl into a determined desperation.

"Hey, we did what you asked us to. We looked for your vampire, found him, he didn't want in, left you and ran off. This is as far as we go, Princess." Reno said, resting his nightstick on his shoulder in a decidedly lazy stance.

He jerked his head to the side and el Reno's compadres el twistedo turned with him and left her sputtering as they walked out the sliding glass door.

"Oh no you don't!"

Reno looked over his shoulder, and saw she was holding out her Conformer, and her fingers were on one of the materia in the slots. Whipping around, he narrowed his eyes.

"You don't wanna fight, Ninja-Brat." Reno threatened, shifting so his lazy stance, while still present, held subtle danger. Not so subtle was the way he brought his nightstick off his shoulder, and moved it to his side so he could easily and quickly move it. She could see his hand itching for the fight, wanting to move while his stance gave away nothing. "It's three against one." He smirked. "And don't forget, you've only ever beat us with three of you, even when there was only one of us."

Yuffie looked at him in the eye, her own glinting and her lips tugging upwards. "But we've been three against three, Turkey, which is one to one."

"Glad you can do math. But it's still different." He shook his head, still standing in the doorway it Rude and Elena outside. Reno's hand was pressed against the sliding door, as though he had no intention of coming in and shutting it again.

Yuffie sighed and lowered the Conformer. Slowly, she walked towards them, step by step. The Turks weren't fooled, and stayed battle ready. "I suppose you're right," she sighed, walking ever closer. "But, you know, my friends Leviathan, Bahamut ZERO, Phoenix and," she paused for blatant dramatic effect, now chest to chest with Reno as she tilted her head up to look at him, "Knights of the Round beg to differ."

Reno stared. Then, finally, after much tense silence: "Why the hell would they give you some of the best Summons?"

Yet Reno didn't step back, because that would mean backing down, letting gher have control of the situation. So they stood, chest to chest. Or, more appropriately, Yuffie's face somewhere near his chest.

Yuffie laughed, but not a real one - her old, ever triumphant cackle of "Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!" Beaming, she said, "Who said they gave it to me?" She popped out Knights and twirled it in her fingers. "Strife had this on him when I saved his poor lil' ass in Midgar."

"So you stole." Elena said, voice flat but bordering on disgust, and her face betraying her. "You stole from your leader, your friend who needed it as much if not more than you. I thought you quit that."

Yuffie glared, already narrow eyes turning to slits. "He owed me one." She said nonchalantly. "Besides," rage tearing into her calm demeanor, "don't you dare refer to that -"

Reno had to whistle at the impressive vocabulary that followed. "Pick up some stuff from Highwind?"

"That Cloud Strife's no friend of mine." She spat, but the rage lingered in the air until her eyes lit up. "You know," she said, "you know, Cloud deserved to have his Knights of the Round stolen back a couple of months ago because he's a lying leader!"

"Chill out." Reno said - it wasn't a request.

By this time they had drawn back from each other some, a mutual, subtle backing off as they held their conversation. But still, there was less than a foot of space between the two, staring each other down.

As much as Reno differed from Cloud, he was still a good leader. Reno managed to inspire the utmost devotion, trust and loyalty in his teammates. He didn't, however, have the power to inspire that in the random man on the street, unlike Cloud, whose solemn face could inspire it in the experiment trapped in a cage, the random ninja in the forest, the fallen-from-glory pilot and the ex-Turk with literal inner demons. Of course, Yuffie had joined for materia and Vincent for revenge, but along the way, the trust came. None of the AVALANCHE members, excluding Tifa and Aeris, were ones to give trust easily, but that was part of Cloud's natural, if reluctant, leadership. Reno made good decisions for himself, his team and those he served without caring what happened to those in the way, where Cloud tried to make decisions for the best of all - well, almost all. Except those they were taking out. But even when it boiled down to simple leadership, Reno was good, but Cloud was better.

Yuffie looked at him. "I gave you that-"

"You wanted us for the job. That was payment for the job." Reno said blankly. "And you didn't pay them." He indicated Rude and Elena. With that, he jerked his head again and they walked out the door, then down the stairs of the deck and towards the helicopter.

Yuffie didn't sigh, or slump, or anything. Had she been acting, she would have, but a fury was rising in the very core of her being, and she stood straighter and propped her hands on her hips, chin lifting and staring at his back defiantly. Then, she walked out the door and stood at the top of the stairs they had just stepped off of. She looked up at the sun, staring in the direction of Midgar. "Reno," she barked, and she felt them jump and turn, because she was all business and bite now, and it wasn't a request, it was a tone you obeyed - the tone of a leader. "I'm putting you in charge of figuring out the mechanics of this stuff, breaking into the power room and what not." She started pacing, and could feel the stunned silence. "Rude. You need to figure out where the prisoners are being held." They were staring at her back, she could feel it. She was sharp now, and her Wutain accent was underlying her words, the only sign that she was angry. The rest was just sharpness, all the harshness and authority of a general at war. "Elena!" she said sharply, and the woman unintentionally stood at attention, without the retarded salute. "You're in charge of getting your hands on any information we can via hacking into the database - without getting caught."

There was silence as she began to walk, businesslike, back to the house. She was mentally crossing her fingers - these were Turks. This strategy worked very well on average citizens, the ones who were naturally followers without a streak of leader-ism-ish in them. But the Turks were not average. She did not plan for this to work the same way it did with the follower-types - she was taking a chance that she would gain respect from them, that her determination was clear.

She kept walking, realizing they hadn't budged. She bit the inside of her lip, since they couldn't see. She was a ninja, and self-proclaimed Best Ninja Ever, and while it was not impossible to pull the operation off by herself, it was improbable. Maybe she could pull it off, getting her friends out, but chances were she'd end up being the sacrificial lamb.

Well. She wasn't going to lie. She was selfish. She was not prepared to be the sacrifice. But then again, she wasn't going to let any of her friends be it either. She was selfish, but she included everything she considered part of her, part of her 'self.' Such as Wutai. Wutai, dingy and backwoods, was Yuffie and so was AVALANCHE; Cid in the way she cursed; Tifa in the way she actually listened and tried desperately to understand; Cloud in the way she'd learned to lead and the way she'd learned some things couldn't be faced with a grin and a bounce, but only with a grim face that showed every inch of determination that the grin could never reveal. And she was Aeris in that she smiled now as well as grinned - she'd remembered how.

Aeris. Aeris had seemed so peaceful and holy and pure that day, praying there and leaning ever so slightly forward, as if she was turning an attentive ear to everything the ground had to say. Aeris had known, Yuffie was positive. Aeris had known she was going to die, maybe not how or when, but she knew, and maybe she'd gotten a feel of when the closer and further they ventured into that City of Ancients. She had kneeled down to be the sacrifice that would save them all. But Yuffie hadn't missed that moment when Aeris's eyes had snapped open, shock and pain shooting through them, desperation present in those last moments. Aeris hadn't expected it to be like that, so innocent and naïve that she knew she would die but forgot it would hurt, and there was that shock and Yuffie had seen those last moments, the last thoughts in those eyes. Yuffie had seen the regret that had poured into her in those last moments, because she knew she'd see the world no more, and there was acceptance there, but so much desperation and regret. Aeris stopped running, kneeled down and saved them.

But Yuffie couldn't do that. She was selfish where Aeris was selfless, even if Aeris had taught her - or at least made her realize it for the first time - that the 'self' was more than one solitary spirit in one solitary body. Yuffie couldn't be Aeris. She was unprepared, unwilling and far too selfish to be the sacrifice that would save them all.

But, Yuffie resolved, they wouldn't go unsaved. Just this time, no one had to die for it. This time, it would be different. They wouldn't go there. Not this time.

"No one gets left behind," Cloud said once, after there were some particularly bitter feelings within the group. "No matter what."

No matter what.

She bit her lip. Since she was facing the house, she didn't see Reno's lips twitch, and then curl into a smirk, and then a full blown grin. But she did hear when he said "Alright Princess. We're in."

She let out the breath she'd been holding in her chest as Reno walked up and stood just behind her.

"Do you have any idea what you're getting us all into, Yuff?"

She smirked, and started walking again. "Let's find out." She said.

His only answer was a chuckle.

* * *

**A/N: **Heyy, long time for an update, sorry! Been super busy and just keep getting busier.

Title and quote seem pretty clean cut, easy to understand so I'm not going to go too far into it.

Otherwise, this is the last chapter before the time jump. The next chapter will start about 3 months later. In this chapter specifically...we once again consider the scary possibility of Hojo being alive. This carries on into the discovery of Auhncore keeping tabs on the families. And what sketchy buisness is going on in that building anyway? Further, Reno is having dreams about his little side story of his videotape. And most importantly, Yuffie has brought the Turks in and they are going to work to take Auhncore down.

About fricken time, right?

By the way, 100 favs and over 100 alerts! Yay! Thank you to all my reviewers especially those who are sticking with it through all this time! And those of you who regularly review or who give good feedback. Thank so you so much.

:)


	19. Mission Start

**Chapter 18**

Mission Start

_"I have found that great people do have in common an immense belief in themselves and in their mission. They also have great determination as well as an ability to work hard. At the crucial moment of decision, they draw on their accumulated wisdom. Above all, they have integrity."_

**3 Months Later**

Today was the day. Cloud woke up, yawning and glancing at his locked door. The motions were now routine - he wrapped his sheet around him, from the chest down (where his fake boobs were about permanently stuck now) and walked to the bathroom. That was one room he knew she had no cameras, because she believed in a woman's right to privacy. There, Cloud stripped down and looked at his obviously masculine body, from certain parts to his legs which, without the slimming and deceiving pantyhose, were muscular and obviously male to his lack of womanly hips and obvious abs. It was a wonder he'd managed to keep the game going this long. Of course, without Kylie providing a distraction whenever someone got dangerously close to finding something incriminating he wouldn't have been able to pull off the charade.

Yet they'd made it. A grueling 3 month period of counseling and other such things, until they'd gotten to the day that Kim called their 'reentrance into society,' but was really just the woman showing off that she'd yet again saved some street mongrels and made them into 'society' worthy ladies.

He whipped off his wig and ruffled his hair with his hand, as well as grabbing a mirror that hung off the shower head and a razor. He got into the shower, midway through which there were two knocks on the door before it opened. "Hey," a voice came, soft and cautious.

"Kylie," he greeted without using his fake voice.

"Cloud." She said, and he heard her hoist herself up onto the sink.

Over the past couple months he'd developed a fondness for the Turk's little sister, even a bond that could only be created by going through something as odd and unique as this. He shampooed his hair and washed off, and it was routine also to shave in the shower now, lest the wrong person stumble in. He had to be careful not to nick himself, because that would be a hard question to answer. As it was, his shaves were smooth enough to not raise any suspicion. And that went for his legs and underarms as well.

Finished with his business, he turned off the shower and stuck his hand out the shower. A towel has placed in his hand, which he wrapped around his waist, and he stuck his hand out again and another towel was given that he wrapped around his head.

Stepping out of the shower, Kylie grinned at him. Cloud was busy wiping his face with the tail of his head towel to see her eyes passing over his bare chest. When he looked up she was smiling up at his face, and he walked stoically to the mirror, wiping it off with a hand. Flicking on the fan, it roared to life, just loud enough to make sure no one else outside the room could hear them - as well as de-steaming the mirror.

"Here it is." Kylie said, as Cloud turned on a blow drier.

"Yup." He said.

"We should go over the plan. One more time."

Cloud nodded as he rustled his fingers through his hair and it dried quickly under the blow drier. Turning it off, he nodded, signal for her to start.

"So we're at the party. Over the past couple months we've figured out that to get to her 'secret basement' type thing it's a lot simpler than some of these Shinra-Auhncore types-"

"Kylie." Cloud said in a tone that meant 'get back on the subject.'

"Right. Well, to get to the basement its simple in concept but not in execution. It's just a door, but a locked door in her room. So I'm going to be the prize, the one to show off to all the people. I'm going to distract our dear savior and you're going to get up to the room. We've already obtained and made a copy of the key and gotten it back to her, so she doesn't suspect. Once in the basement you will locate the main database and copy all the information you can on a floppy disk that has to do with you guys, and then wipe it. Then forget goodbyes, you'll leave. And I'll get out as soon as I can."

"What about the codes?" he asked, but with the air of quizzing someone.

"Right. We've also found the codes that will disable the security alarms in the basement. And you have a copy of her index finger print that will fool the sensor."

There was silence, and he turned to her and held out the makeup bag, because he still hadn't figured it all out - and didn't want to. She continued as she applied foundation to his face. "And we will rendezvous at Reno's apartment. If one of us isn't there within 24 hours of the start of the party…" here she faltered slightly. "We will abandon the apartment and go our separate ways, and not attempt to find or make contact with each other."

She faltered in applying his eyeliner, and he opened his right eye a crack, looking at her from behind blonde bangs. "I need to know you can do that." He said, and she looked at him in the eye and frowned.

"I can." She said, after a moment's hesitation.

He shut his eye again so she could continue applying his eyeliner, and he was ever oblivious to the fact that her heart was beating faster at how easily he took being so close to her, and that she most undeniably had a crush - or something more - on Cloud Strife.

But he never was good at picking up on those types of things. So he wouldn't guess the reason she didn't like thinking about parting was that they'd been there, together, for about 3 months, and she was falling for this stoic, strong and silent type man pretending to be a woman.

"Open." She ordered, and she directed his motions as she applied mascara, eye shadow and lipstick. Then, he put on his blonde wig and surveyed his appearance with a grimace. Kylie stayed in the bathroom as he left to put on stockings and clothes to go meet Kim. Kylie exited the bathroom and looked at Cloud from the ground up, a grin forming on her face. At last she met his eyes, and it was easier not to have a crush on him when he was, well, a she.

"Let's roll." Kylie winked, and Cloud gave her a 'look.' Kylie grimaced.

But he smiled. "Mosey. Let's mosey."

* * *

"This is Deadly Rose coming in-"

"Hey, stick to the code."

"I like Deadly Rose better-"

"Yuffie." A deeper voice cut it.

"Hey! You wanna get me killed No. 2?"

A deep sigh came.

"Fine. This is Mission Commander coming in, secure in position approaching the west side of the building, do you read?"

"Mission Commander I read you, this is No. 1," a smirking voice came, "in position."

"No. 2?" the female voice, Mission Commander, came through.

"No. 2 in position." The deep voice came.

"And No. 3?"

Another female voice read through. "In position."

As it was, Mission Commander was none other than Yuffie, who was wearing a garbage collectors coveralls as she knelt by the dumpster on the west side of the building, talking into the neck of her clothes where her microphone resided. Reno, No. 1, was positioned outside a coffee shop across from the building, a newspaper up in front of his face though he was not reading it, but watching over the brim of the paper. Rude, No. 2, was in a parked car behind the building. Elena, on the other hand, was in a room in the hotel just diagonal from Auhncore - operating as No. 3.

"No. 3," Yuffie's voice came through the microphone. "What is the countdown?"

"2 minutes in counting until Mission Start."

"No. 1," Yuffie said.

"Yess," Reno drawled as he watched the front of the building over his newspaper, acting with all the lazy ease of, well, Reno, and of someone who had no where in particular to be.

"Is everything in order?"

"Well," Reno said, glancing down at his paper at pictures of both Yuffie and Vincent, with 'Wanted' emblazoned below. "I am in my suit, my glasses, my hair…" he fingered the back of his hair, where he'd been forced to cut off his pony tail. It had been long coming since he'd been on the run, but he felt as though part of his trademark was gone. Given, his bright red hair was still in a signature messy style, but he would miss the ponytail.

"Oh it'll grow back, get over yourself," Elena snapped. "It looks better, if you ask me."

"We all know how sexy I am, Lana, we know." He grinned, and he could almost hear Elena rolling her eyes. "Yeah, well, it's brown as well. My eyes are brown and I have my necessaries and my fun little case." Reno brushed his fingers of his briefcase. He then grabbed his coffee and took a casual sip. "So I'm all set."

"1 minute in counting." Elena's voice came over again.

"In position on west side of building," Yuffie said as she knelt by a dumpster.

This was not the actual operation, but a run through that would be used to get out kinks in the system, to make sure everything ran smoothly.

"50 seconds in counting."

The three months that had passed had served for them to plan, plot and figure out how they would break out their friends. No more leads had been found by Auhncore as far as Vincent or Yuffie went, but there had been a black stain about a month and a half into the planning.

_Yuffie sat in front of the television, blueprints, maps, notes and all sorts of papers spread out over the coffee table where she sat pouring over them, occasionally writing something down or adding a note somewhere. The news played on the TV, but Yuffie barely was paying attention to the anchorwoman as she went through some story about a mysterious death in the mountains of Nibelheim._

_"We have breaking news," the anchorwoman said suddenly, and the words flashed across the bottom of the screen. "We have just received a notice from Auhncore announcing that the members of rebel group AVALANCHE that are in custody have refused to cooperate and have been found so overwhelmingly guilty that the first execution is being scheduled."_

_"Oh Leviathan," Yuffie said. "Oh fucking shit. Oh shit. Reno! Rude! Elena! Get your asses in here!"_

_Sure enough, Reno poked his head in. "What?" he asked, grumpily. "I was napping."_

_"Get over here! They're scheduling the execution!"_

_Reno let out a explicative and Rude and Elena joined them, Reno diving onto the couch and Elena sitting as well, while Rude stood behind the couch and looked on._

_"The first execution is to be Barrett Wallace, the original leader of the second incarnation of the terrorist group and the first man to be taken in custody. The execution will take place in 2 months time, on Sunday the 5th."_

_"Well fuck." Reno concluded._

_Yuffie felt that summed up things nicely._

And here they were, a week away from Barret's execution date and they were actually here. Yuffie felt a thrill inside her - they were going to do it. Well, at least they were going to try.

"30 seconds in counting."

Reno stood up and folded his newspaper with no apparent rush, and placed it inside his briefcase. Picking up his coffee by the paper jacket, so he wouldn't get burned, he picked up his briefcase and began to walk across the crosswalk to the skyscraper that loomed above, looking like many other businessmen who walked on the streets of Midgar towards the building that lay in the center of it all.

"20 seconds."

Reno reached the other side of the street and paused, glancing at his watch in the most businesslike manner. He began walking again, straight for the front door. His strides were long and measured, and he took the last sip of his coffee before he chucked it in a trash can by the door.

"10 seconds."

He opened the door, and held it open for a woman juggling coffee, files and a messenger bag, giving a kind smile. Walking in, he heard his footsteps against the polished marble floors. He gave polite smiles and nods to those who passed, and kept his head up and his sense of belonging. The place was eerily like Shinra, to a degree Reno did not like.

"5 seconds."

The main front desk was straight ahead, large, polished and emblazoned with a large, ornate A on the front. Reno walked up to it, one eye glancing at the giant clock that took up a good chunk of the wall above the receptionist's desk.

"3 seconds."

She looked up and saw Reno approaching and he saw her looking down at something.

"2 seconds."

He stepped closer and she put down the phone she'd been on.

"1 second."

He stepped up to the desk.

"0."

The clock changed to 1 o'clock.

"I'm here for an appointment with Dr. Arnette."

She nodded in a knowing way. "He's located up on the 25th floor."

Reno nodded and chuckled. "Tell me your elevator is in order."

She laughed. "Yes but…"

"I came early." Reno said. "By the way, is there a bathroom…?"

She pointed to Reno's right. "Over there, walk in through that doorway and its on your right.

He smiled. "Thank you."

He walked towards the doorway she mentioned, and he already knew it was a long hall that housed the bathrooms up close but down the ways had the service elevator. "We've gone past the receptionist," Reno said in a slight singsong voice as he walked into the bathroom, which was empty, as they thought. It was right before the midday cleaning, and people generally just got back from lunch. Reno walked into a stall, took a few moments, but walked out wearing Auhncore mechanic/maintenance coveralls. He also attached a small camera that looked like a typical walkie talkie feed that mechanic's used on the coverall. He turned it on.

"I have visual." Elena said. They needed to see as much inside as they could.

Whistling, Reno ditched the glasses and plopped a worn cap on his head that read 'Maintenance.' He walked out of the bathroom with his briefcase, and whistled, walking down to the service elevator. He swiped a pass they'd managed to steal - well, Yuffie had - from a maintenance man leaving the building on a day previous. Walking in, the doors closed and started to go down.

This was a whole other side, the mechanics that made the polished building run. This was no more polished marble but gray walls and gritty elevators without true walls enclosing them. "Past the receptionist," he sang lightly, "down the lift, to shut off the power we go." His voice was soft and his lips didn't move enough to be picked up on camera.

"Oh you're clever." Elena said.

"Reno knows the way, to free all who stay, inside the prisoner cells,"

"You're cute." Yuffie's voice came.

"Why thank you." He grinned.

"Now shut it."

He obeyed, but still hummed the tune, just to be contrary. Elena and Yuffie rolled their eyes in unison, though they could not see each other. He used the card to open the door to the control room, and walked in, locking it behind him.

"Alright now, flashlight," Reno said and opened up the briefcase. Finding a flashlight, he turned it on and made his way through the room until he found what he was looking for. "Bingo." He said.

He was staring at the main breaker for the building, which fed off to the other breakers that were required to power such a skyscraper, but Reno knew what he had to do. It wasn't complicated; it wasn't anything that he needed computer geek Elena for.

"MC get ready," Elena said. "Reno, count us down."

"5," he grinned and put a rubber glove on his right hand. "4," he drew out the number as he picked up the nightstick, wrapping his fingers around it lovingly. "3," he continued, lifting it up. "2," he jammed the nightstick into the breaker. "and 1." He said and he flipped a switch.

"Voila." He whispered as electricity crackled, the lights flickered and the whole building was shot into darkness.

This served several purposes. First of all, it created a panic in which new people in the building wouldn't be as noticeable, the effect panic tended to have. Secondly, there were infrared sensors in the air vents via which Yuffie was entering, and this would shut them off. Thirdly, doing this on the practice run meant by the time the real thing rolled around, they would suspect a power problem and it wouldn't be as big of a deal.

There was a timeline, however. Now, Yuffie had precisely one minute before the backup generator kicked in. Usually it was only 30 seconds, but Elena had been able to up the ante to a minute. This was so because the generator needed a chance to see whether the main breaker would come back on. So Reno quietly took his stuff, exited the room and left the building via a ground level door. Within the next minute or so he would strip the coveralls, which had gone over his suit, and reenter the building as though he was coming out of the bathroom, as panicked as everyone else.

As all this was going on, Rude, who was posing as a new security guard coming into work had entered the building. He had just finished changing and left the break room when the power went out. Immediately he cracked out a glow stick but instead of calming people and protecting the higher ups, Rude made his way to the room with the security cameras. On his way, he opened a supply closet and threw in a pair of what appeared to be shoes. The guard on duty in the camera room had run to go see what was going on, and in the absence Rude slid into the room and the chair to wait in the darkness until the cameras came back on.

And the moment the power went off, on Reno's last count, Yuffie threw open the air vent that led to the outside, having spent the last couple minutes unscrewing it and making it so she could take it off. She dove in, and having studied the air vent complex for a while, knew it was big enough to house her. She crawled through hurriedly, as voices rang in her ears.

"In position inside building," Rude's deep voice came.

"Reentering building now," Reno said.

"You've got 45 seconds MC," Elena said.

Yuffie crawled silently but faster until her desired vent came into view. Once there she wiggled out of the garbage collectors uniform to reveal a neat business woman's attire. She whipped off her hat where her hair was already slicked up into a small bun, and the grey skirt, white blouse and matching grey blazer gave her the look of just another businesswoman. She opened the vent and dropped into a storage closet, where her heels were waiting. Putting them on, she exited the storage space quietly.

"State your positions." Yuffie whispered.

"In the camera room." Rude said. "Prepared to switch the tapes."

"In the main lobby," Reno muttered, "with the appropriate degree of panic."

"In the hotel." Elena said.

"Good." Yuffie said. "Commencing Phase 2."

Yuffie found the staircase and proceeded to walk up in the dark until, midway up, the lights came back on. She kept walking and found she'd made it to floor 3, and walked onto the floor. While everyone was baffled, she walked to the elevator and waited until it was functioning again. Checking her watch, she strolled in with a bunch of others, and didn't press a button. It wasn't noticed in the jam, and she kept going up until all but two men was left in the lift, and he was going past floor 49, which - up from there- were the restricted floors. They both swiped their keycards and she did the same. Little did the man know that her keycard was obtained from the Turks, who told her they were the same as the ShinRa ones.

"I haven't seen you around up here." He commented, but looked forward.

Here was the first test. Yuffie had been practicing this for days now. "I am a representative of the Wutain government." She said, a businesslike tone with just enough Wutain accent underlying her words to convince him. The man nodded.

"I know Wutai isn't very happy with us," he smiled.

"Yes, well, forgive us. We aren't too fond of soldiers of another empire," she emphasized the word, "cluttering our streets and babysitting us."

The man chuckled. "Feisty. You have a bite to your bark, lady, what's your name?"

"Of no concern of yours, I'm sure," Yuffie said tightly.

"Ouch," the man joked, and got off on Floor 50. "Bye." And he winked. The other man had already exited.

She took a deep breath as the doors shut and spoke into her microphone. "On Floor 50. Floor 60 is the top and our friends are being held on floor 57 I believe. No 2, what is your position?"

"I am inserting the tapes of the blank elevator from Floor 50 and up. You do not exist on these floors."

"Perfect. No. 1?" she asked.

"Floor 35," he announced, obvious he was on a crowded elevator and could say no more.

"No 3?"

"Well if this was the real drill, I would be leaving the hotel to obtain the helicopter."

The Floor Number rang for 51. Yuffie got off. This was where some of the offices of the big guns were, though not the most important, including the person Yuffie was supposedly here to see. In reality, she was nearly done this mission. She couldn't go any higher than this on this run through without making the mission impossible for when it would actually be performed. Her heart was beating fast but she didn't show it, keeping her pace quick and purposeful. Getting off the elevator the immediate area was a reception area, where the secretaries got more personalized than the front desk. She walked up to the desk where the receptionist sat, whom all the appointments went through.

"I'm the representative for the Wutain Embassy, here to see the Head of Foreign Affairs."

The woman opened her moth, but Yuffie cut her off. "Tell him I'll reschedule due to events that just happened with the light surge…I'm afraid us Wutains are paranoid. I do not wish to talk to him when there is anything out of the ordinary."

The receptionist nodded and was saying "I'll tell him," as Yuffie walked away. Her heart was racing and she could feel her blood racing through her veins. She entered the elevator, and as the doors shut the receptionist was busy. She pressed the button for Floor 56, which was also known as the Lodge - the floor for the SP. In the elevator, she spoke to her comrades. "No. 1."

"Floor 49. Will stop here for Mission Trial and Error, so suspicion isn't provoked. No. 1 mission part complete."

"No. 2?"

"Tapes switched so far. Awaiting further need for switching."

"No. 3?"

"Would be on standby with helicopter for further notification, but as far as Mission TE is concerned, No. 3 complete."

"Heading to Phase 3, which will not be in the real Mission Impossible."

"No. 1, shouldn't you be going there with her?" Elena asked.

"No. Threat of recognition." Reno answered.

"Shut up." Yuffie muttered as she reached floor 56.

As the doors opened, there was no one there. This floor was extra top clearance, but since the same card for the Turks was used for the SP, she could get on it. She walked in, and this main area was very open, a lounge type place for the SP. But, as predicted, the SP had gone to the aids of the higher ups in case there was an assassination attempt. She walked through the lounge and took note of several things, positions of things that she wrote down in a notebook. She looked around and took a digital camera out of her briefcase, and started taking pictures. Yuffie had pictures of wide views, close ups, and special interest in a door that read 'Special Access,' which was a door she knew led up to Floor 58, and the only way to get to Floor 58.

The Prison Cells.

She heard something sliding but before she could whirl around, a toilet flushed and a door opened. She turned and there was a member of the SP, suit and all, tucking his shirt in.

"Hey!" he shouted. "What are you doing? You can't have that in here- you can't take pictures! Freeze, hands up!" he shouted in rapid succession. "Put down the camera!"

She smiled at him. "Now what do you want, hands up or put down the camera?"

He frowned. He wasn't a seasoned vet, he was probably a rookie or something close to it. Then again, the whole of the SP was rather new. But he just looked at her. "Take a guess." He growled.

Maybe he was more experienced than she thought, taken aback.

So she slowly bent down to lower the camera, and it didn't hurt that she allowed her skirt to ride up. He was unfazed, however, and his gun was pointed straight at her. She smiled as she put her camera on the ground. As she slowly straightened, she allowed her right hand to run up her leg, the leg and hand farthest from the SP Agent. But as she reached the hem of her skirt she looked away fromm the agent for a second. In a flash she reached up her skirt to her leg holster and grabbed the gun. Though she was quick, the SP agent was no rookie like she'd thought. He shot.

But she was already mid-dive, and was rolling on the ground, and by the time she on her stomach she had the gun pointed at the man. But as soon as she pointed it at him, there was a muffled pop, and a red flower bloomed in the middle of the man's forehead. His eyes widened with shock, and the hole through his forehead spilled blood before he collapsed on the floor. Yuffie immediately turned and pointed the gun at the person who'd just come out of the elevator.

And her eyes widened. The figure was standing in a pose so familiar that it made her shake, but she kept her gun pointed. He'd washed the color out of his hair so it was pure black again, though short and tousled. His eyes were brown and his suit was black, with a red tie, the trademark of the SP, but that's not who he was. She kept the gun pointed at him, but her eyes stung with tears as he lowered that ever so familiar gun, the Death Penalty fitted with a silencer that promptly came off and was tucked into his waistband. The Death Penalty was lowered to his side, but not put away. "…Vincent?" she asked, quietly.

He nodded.

* * *

**A/N: **Updatee! Trying to be better about updating. I have a lot more written now.

But guess whattt? Vincent's back and he's swinging into action. About time, right? Well, a shocking twist that most of you will like. So yeahh. Quotes and title are self explanatory. Both gangs are getting into a mission, and the time to break everyone out, after 18 long chapters so far, is finally coming up. Bout time huh? Cloud is still masquerading as a girl. But Kylie seems to have a little crushh. He has that effect on girls, apparently.

Reviews have been dropping but I'd like to thank all the reviewers so far and especially those who've been commenting every chapter and sticking with it from the beginning! Over 250 now!

:)


	20. Forgiveness

**Chapter 19**

Forgiveness

_When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free._

"Why…?" Yuffie asked. "How…?"

"Time and place, Yuffie," Vincent said, motioning to the body in the room.

She nodded. "Right," She said, "right. I have what I need. And um…"

"MC, what's going on?" Elena asked.

"Um, explain later. Ran into a…complication."

"Uh-oh," Elena breathed.

"Don't worry. It'll be cleaned up," Vincent interrupted, grabbing the lapel of Yuffie's blazer where the microphone was and drawing it close so he could speak into it.

"Who was that?" Reno asked sharply.

"Don't worry. No. 1 exit the building, No. 2 wait for my exit and then leave. There has been a glitch but…nothing too bad."

"Yuff-"

"No. 1!" Yuffie barked. "Exit immediately or I will shave you bald."

"…Right away Mission Commander."

With that, Yuffie turned off her microphone, and was immediately greeted by a "What the hell are you doing-" from Elena before she turned off her ear piece. She sighed and shook her head.

"Clean up time," she said. Vincent nodded, and together they went through the man's pocket until they found his wallet. Pulling it out, Yuffie found his license and a grocery list. "Bingo," she said. "He's single. Look, no ring and no way a woman - or a guy with a woman - would write this kind of list."

Her statement was true, as the handwriting was masculine and the list only had 'Toliet paper, beer, milk, chips, cereal.' Definitely a bachelor's list and that was a bit of comfort for them as they forged a quick suicide note and opened a window. This window led to an alley, the opposite alley from which Yuffie had entered. With that they 'helped' him out the window and dropped him in the same manner he would have fallen if he had jumped. They were precise, Yuffie and Vincent. The blood on the carpet was the only problem, quickly resolved by moving an armchair over the blood on the carpet and a quick wipe of the walls.

"You clean?" she asked, wiping off her hands.

"Clean," He answered.

"Let's blow this pop stand. Someone will be here soon."

But Vincent touched his suit to remind her that it wouldn't seem a big deal if she was with him. Still, they calmly walked to the elevator as if they had not just killed a man ('he shot first!' Yuffie would protest) and thrown his body out the window. The doors shut and they went down to ground level. Until briefing, only Rude would know, and Rude wouldn't say a thing. He would merely switch the tape of the room from the point Yuffie entered and onward with a recording of the empty room. By the time they realized he would have been recorded during his suicide, they would be preoccupied with other things. Of course, after Yuffie and Reno were securely out of the building, Rude would leave the prerecorded tapes in but push a button that would allow for the actual cameras to start recording again, over the tapes. Then he would leave.

They finally reached bottom floor and Vincent took off the trademark red tie, so he would look nothing but a businessman as he put on a pair of glasses, and together the two business-people left the building, giving not a glance to the side alley where a couple people now pointed. Yuffie turned on her microphone and earpiece, on which Elena started chewing her out. She ignored the blonde.

"This is MC out of the building, Mission Accomplished, good work team. Rendezvous at No. 1's apartment within 60 minutes."

"Staggered arrival?" Rude's deep voice came.

"Yes," Yuffie confirmed. "I'll be there first. Then you three figure it out between yourself."

"Copy," Three voices came at once. "Over and out."

At that, Yuffie turned off her bugs and kept walking with Vincent until they were safely far away from the Auhncore building. With that, Yuffie shook out her bun and turned to Vincent, and there was anger on her face. "You have a lot of explaining to do."

There was no laughter in her grey eyes.

Vincent nodded solemnly. "I do."

She smacked him upside the head and hurried her pace so she was walking in front of him, annoyance and anger flickering on her face. "Yeah you do."

* * *

They entered Reno's apartment, and the door shut. Yuffie locked it, turned around, and her face contorted with rage. Immediately she took the briefcase she was carrying and whacked Vincent on the chest. "What the hell?" she fumed. He stumbled back, and she started to beat him around the torso, landing a blow with each word. Her rage mounted.

"What-" WHACK "did-" WHACK "you-" WHACK "think" WHACK "you" WHACK "were-" WHACK "doing-" WHACK "just-" WHACK "leaving-" WHACK "me-" WHACK "all-" WHACK "a-" WHACK "lone?!" WHACK.

She was fuming, and she'd whacked him back against the wall, and the force of the last hit with the briefcase combined with her tight skirt caused her to wobble in her heels and fall back onto her ass. Without much delay she struggled back to her feet, glaring.

He rubbed his chest, and she was certain she'd bruised because she'd hit hard, and she knew he would hurt in the morning, because that was her intent.

"I believe this is the second time we've met since this unfortunate turn of events," Vincent deadpanned, "and the second time you've beat me up."

"Only because you deserved it. Both times."

Vincent sighed, "Sit."

She opened her mouth to protest hotly about being told what to do when he pressed two fingers against her lips. "Sit," he repeated.

So she did, sitting on the couch. He looked at her, and she could feel the red piercing eyes even though they were covered with brown contacts. She frowned.

"When you asked me to help you…" Vincent said, "I turned you down."

"Yes," she said bitterly, "I remember."

"After you left, I told myself I had done the correct thing. It would be foolish to take that risk. And I was doing well here, blending in-"

"While our friends suffer."

He gave her a look. She pressed her lips together. He continued, "but I knew I couldn't keep up the charade forever. So I staged another accident. I had the real Brody Bright flown back from Junon and when I staged the accident, I replaced myself in the car with him, so when found, we would be back where this all began. In a hospital with a bad case of memory loss on the part of Brody.

"I attempted to find you, to follow you, but you had vanished off the map. My mistake was in assuming you would go as far as you could from Mideel. I started in Wutai and was working my way across the globe until a few weeks ago I stumbled across a conversation in Kalm," he said in the same monotone, as he removed his contacts and placed them in a case. He looked up, red eyes piercing. "They spoke of two men and two women who'd appeared out of nowhere to move into the vacant house. Further investigation confirmed my suspicions, but you were gone."

Yuffie nodded, knowing they were in Midgar by the time he described.

"So I broke in. And there I found, in the trash, one piece of paper that has a very roughly drawn diagram…"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a carefully folded piece of paper, though it was crinkled and messy. Opening it up, he showed it to Yuffie.

It had been a joke on Reno's part, and showed a tall building and four stick people with four huge machine guns. Only Vincent would call it a diagram.

"So I knew where you had gone. So I went to Midgar."

"That doesn't explain how you found us."

"Well," He said, "I've been staking out the building for about a week now, keeping vigil in various places, especially the coffee shop where, today, I spotted Reno."

Yuffie looked up. "How did you know-" but then she stopped herself. "Because you're Vincent, and even if I asked you probably wouldn't answer."

His lip twitched.

"Well, catch your breath, all that talking probably passed your limit for the century. I'm not as mad anymore. A little mad but…well…you came back," she said.

He nodded.

She smiled.

The door opened, and Reno and Elena entered, acting the part of a couple. The charade dropped as soon as the door closed though. Both their eyes immediately flew to Vincent. Elena gaped and Reno sputtered, and Yuffie turned around. "Welcome our new team member," she said.

But slowly, Elena smiled. "We can't lose," the blonde declared.

But Reno's eyes locked on Vincent Valentine and he did not smile. He only frowned.

* * *

So far, everything was going according to plan. Kylie was out entertaining the nice society ladies while Cloud slipped away to Kim's room, where he now stood. He turned to the wall where her large vanity stood, and walked over. One of the small decorations on the vanity was actually a keyhole. He inserted the key he'd obtained and turned it until it clicked. There were no security cameras because of the confidence Kim had that no one knew, and as a measure to keep the secret. Swinging open the disguised door Cloud walked in, closing it behind him.

The change was immediate. The room he entered was small, and entirely silver as though it was made of stainless steel. He walked to the middle of the room where there were two footprints on the floor. The footprints contained pressure sensors that you had to get past to exit the room. Stepping on them, he was still in his heels, which was a code. First, heels must be worn. Next, the person could not weigh over a certain amount. The idea is to make it so men could not enter the room, but luckily, Cloud was a short male. Though muscled, the heels were enough to throw the scale off and confuse the system. He was able to pass. Walking over the wall the door opened, lifting from the floor then slamming down when Cloud had walked through. The next room's test included a fingerprint test along with a set of three security codes.

He, again, passed the tests.

He took off his heels, rubbing his feet (which still weren't accustomed to the torturous form of shoe) and shimmied out of his dress. Underneath he wore a black wife beater and he pulled on black cargo pants and boots. His fake boobs were still on, as well as his wig, so he simply tied his hair back with a ponytail holder and looked distastefully at the way his wife beater exposed part of his stomach.

What followed was an empty hallway of the same type of entirely shiny, metal surroundings. The hallway continued straight forward, the bright lights above unblinking. A set of stairs rested at the end of the hall, and at the end of the stairs laid a door with a code box. He entered the code and the door opened, and Cloud continued through the door.

Now he had reached the part of the operation where all they had to work on was shady clues and guesswork. He certainly wasn't prepared for this.

To all appearances, he'd entered a huge filing room, under the house like a giant basement. The room might even been as large as the whole first floor of the house. The walls were seemingly nonexistent, because each wall, from floor to ceiling, was covered with filing cabinets. The file cabinets circuited the room in rows and columns, not a space left free, save the mechanical door. The door slammed shut behind Cloud, and he moved forward slightly. A ladder on wheels was attached to two runners at the top and bottom of the room, like in large libraries.

In the middle of it all stood a single computer on a small table with a gray chair in front of it. He turned and on the door was a set of unlabeled buttons, neatly in a square. He decided not to find out what each did. Except the light switch, which was labeled and he pushed.

Not only did all the lights come on, but the computer came to life. His eyes fixed on the computer, the main reason he was here. He walked over and sat down on the chair in front of the computer. The screen came to life and a password bar sprung up. He looked at his palm, which was his cheat sheet for all the codes. He entered the correct one, and he gained access to the computer system.

The computer was new, advanced and possessed the largest virtual memory and storing capacity of any computer yet on the market. He navigated around until he found the main file storage, the only program on the computer. He reached into his stylishly overlarge purse and pulled out a handful of flash drives. He plugged in a flash drive and started the download onto the flash drive.

Of course there would be backup copies, and the one in the house having been found and accounted for already. Kylie would steal it away tonight, if everything went as planned. But they could not afford the possibility that she couldn't get to it. The only other copy was at Kim's office, therefore, Cloud was making his own copy. While the computer downloaded the files Cloud went around the room opening file cabinets and throwing papers to the ground, until the flash drive beeped that it was full. Unplugging it he labeled it '1', and plugged in another one. This continued for a long time, but the computer was fast, despite the heavy, heavy file load. Cloud continued pulling files for over two hours until all the files lay on the ground, a few littering the insides of all the open cabinets. He had a large set of files in his hand, a tall stack that he tucked into the purse he'd brought along. When the computer was finished downloading its whole set of files, he threw all the full flash drives into the purse.

Then he went to the program, typed in a code that was written on his hand. A box popped up that said a word, blinking red.

Delete.

This was the master delete, that would delete it from the computer, the history, the hard drive, everything. He repeated the code, which selected yes.

The computer flashed red, again and again as it went through the process of deleting files, quicker than a file download. Still, it took over half an hour until the computer was finally done deleting and all was empty. Then, Cloud pulled out a hammer from the big, all swallowing purse. He took a deep breath and drew back the hammer, smashing in the screen of the computer. Then he proceeded to bash the monitor to a heap of wires and broken pieces, before starting work on the CPU. When he was done, it was a mess that was unrecognizable as a computer. Files littered the floor, and Cloud walked to the door, purse heavy as anything and he pulled out a box of matches. Opening the door, he stood in the doorway and lit a match, and threw it in. It immediately caught, but for good measure threw in another match. He watched as the blaze went up in the files, and walked out. The door slammed shut.

The design and material used to make the room would keep the fire from spreading outside the room, but would not only burn all the fires and the remains of the computer, but possibly melt the code box and make it extremely hard if not impossible to get back into. He smirked.

Auhncore was going down.

He took out a cell phone from the purse and called Kylie's cell phone. "It's done," he said.

"About time," she said in a delicate, refined voice, laughing as though he'd told a joke.

"Let's get out."

"Not quite so simple," she laughed again. "See you soon, love."

Cloud shut the phone. He knew what to do. He walked back upstairs, enabling the codes and the sensors it shut off as he went upstairs. Finally, he exited the door-

-and found Kim waiting for him in her bedroom. She smiled wryly and shook her head, as though she couldn't believe something. She looked at him. "All these months," she said, pushing her lips together, "I didn't know what to make of you." She looked everywhere but his eyes. "I mean, you hung back, more damaged maybe than Kylie, or maybe just shyer. But you went along."

Cloud said nothing, realizing she still might not know who he really was.

"And now I see the reason I never had seen you at the Honeybee. The reason that you never spoke up too loud, never objected, never reacted in some of the typical ways to some of my methods of recovery," Kim continued. Then she finally looked in his eyes. "So who do you work for?" she asked, and reached towards the slit in her dress.

It was official. She didn't know that he actually was Cloud Strife, and he wouldn't say anything to give that away. He kept eye contact as he let the strap of his purse 'fall' down his arm, opening the mouth of the purse.

"I work," he said, and reached into his purse, feeling for the hammer, "for myself."

With that, he hit Kim in the skull with the handle of the hammer, the force enough to make her crumple to the floor, unconscious. He jerked open the window and climbed out, looking down. He dangled off the edge, holding on with his fingers before he dropped, landing in the bushes by the house. Security wouldn't know that Kim was unconscious, so his escape wasn't too hard. He pulled the dress on again and walked out front like any other guest leaving the party, and climbed into a limo. "Back home," he ordered.

The screen was up so he couldn't see Cloud, but started moving anyway. When they were far enough from the house, in the thick of the city streets, he climbed out of the car at a stop light. The driver drove off as though he was used to it or hadn't realized, and Cloud ducked through the side alleys and streets of Midgar until he finally made it back to Reno's apartment around four in the morning. He took out a key and opened the door and entered-

-only to find the barrel of a gun pointed at him.

"On your knees," a cocky, smirking voice came.

* * *

Reno was lying on the couch, tangling with the video again when he heard an odd scraping noise. His hand flew to his gun and he turned to the source, the door. The doorknob was jiggling back and forth, as though a key was being fitted. Sure enough, the padlock turned slowly.

Reno stood, holding his beer in one hand and his gun in the other, walked to the doorway and stood just past the line of where the door would hit. Taking a sip of his beer, he slowly raised his gun.

The doorknob turned. The door opened.

The entrée was, at first glance, a girl with blue eyes that widened, and blonde hair pulled back. She wore cargo pants, a wife beater and combat boots. Reno smirked down at her when he saw her eyes dart to the television. Seeing him looking, he picked up the remote and turned it off, never taking his gun or eye off of the girl. "Interested blondie?" Then he squinted and frowned. The girl kind of reminded him of the Video Girl, maybe if he was a bit drunker. But something was wrong. "Shut the door," he ordered.

The girl made to stand. "Don't stand," he commanded. Reno smirked. The blonde frowned in a way that twisted her features enough to make him realize something, beyond all the makeup. The blonde used a foot to close the door.

Reno walked closer, and the blonde looked up, and Reno's eyes widened. "But you ain't no girl, are you?"

The blonde looked up, and Reno looked at that face. Reno stared and recognized quite clearly, under a layer or three of makeup and fake hair, the face of Cloud Strife. The 'hero' sighed. "Reno." He said in his normal voice.

Reno stared. "Oh fuckin-ay."

By this time, the other residents had apparently awoken. "Reno what is going on?" she groaned, before seeing Cloud on his knees. Reno could feel the shift in her demeanor as yet another gun was trained on Cloud. Reno didn't glance back at Elena, but stared at Cloud in his girl-version.

Though Reno didn't hear him, a glance back showed Vincent Valentine emerged wearing black pajama pants and holding his Death Penalty at Cloud. Vincent looked and saw what Reno had, only quicker. Yet the gun didn't drop, but suspicion clouded his eyes.

"That's messed up," Reno said, looking back at Cloud. He smirked. "Just how far did you take the girl impression?" he asked, glancing at the boobs, then raising his eyebrows and pointing down with one finger.

Cloud glared, and slowly reached up, showing Reno empty hands, and undid the bra strap. It came out, along with his fake boobs, leaving his chest irritated and raw. He reached up and pulled off both the wig and the bald cap used to keep his hair down. He spilled water over his face and rubbed viciously at his eyes and lips until his lips were left with only the remains of red lipstick, and black was smeared around his eyes.

Reno didn't stop aiming his gun, and neither did Vincent. "So are you going to stop pointing your gun at me?" Cloud asked.

Reno frowned, but Vincent lowered his gun. Vincent and Reno exchanged a look and nodded. "Yes," Vincent started, and looked back at an opening door.

Reno walked over to Vincent and holstered his gun. "But only because of what she's going to do to you."

Before Cloud could ask for explanation, he looked in between Reno and Vincent. Framed between the two was a figure rubbing at her face, clad in shorts and an overlarge t shirt. She looked up, looking quite grumpy and was opening her moth, presumably to ask what was going on when she looked at the door and saw Cloud.

"Oh," he said, his unasked question answered.

Her face and eyes filled with hate. Her features contorted until she was wearing one of the ugliest sneers he'd ever seen. Such hate he'd only seen when she was facing Sephiroth, and when speaking of the fall of Wutai. When she'd worn such expressions, he'd known why he never wanted her hate or wrath directed at him. He saw her start to shake with anger, and she glared at him.

"Why," she asked, each word falling from her lip like a chunk of ice, "is he here?"

They were separated by more than the floor between them, he knew, as she met her deathly glare with his eyes. They both remembered their last encounter, and neither had forgotten what the other had done. Of course, Cloud had forgiven Yuffie for her attempt on his life because of the circumstances. But she would have never known, unless Rude was acting quite out of character. "Let me explain-" he started, getting up from his knees.

"No!" she shouted, jaw clenched. "Don't you dare talk to me, Cloud Strife, don't you dare. After what you did, what you tried to do I never want to see your face again."

In a split second she stormed up to cover the ground between them, and she snatched Reno's gun from its holder and pointed it at him. "Now get back on your knees Cloud Strife, or I swear to Leviathan I will blow you away."

Reno cursed and Vincent walked up to grab her shoulder, but she shrugged him off, or attempted to. The grip was vice, for she flinched before giving him such a glare that he slowly retracted his hand. "Cloud Strife, you are despicable. Get out right now and don't you dare come back, because if you do, I'll kill you."

He slowly started to stand, but just as he did, an object whizzed by him and pinned his pants to the wall. Another pinned the other side, and then one flew by and nicked his arm.

"Yuffie," Vincent barked and grabbed the gun from her hand, but she was already walking to him.

"I hate you," she said as she stood in front of him, angrier than he'd ever seen.

Cloud frowned. He attempted to pull away from the wall, and only succeeded with great force that ripped his pants where the throwing stars had lodged in the wall. Though he was not tall, most everyone was taller than the Wutain, and he stared down at her. "No."

Her lips twisted and she was reaching for something, some sort of hidden weapon. He grabbed her slowly moving wrist. She glared.

He shook his head. He took a deep breath. "When I came and got you, it was the only way to get out of that place. That jail."

Yuffie scoffed scornfully. "So you got out and left them all behind," she spat.

He shook his head yet again. "I had to find you. Because I saw what Tifa was like, I saw the emptiness in that place and I couldn't take it, I had to get out," Cloud said, looking down at Yuffie. "And I had to find you again."

"And take me back," she growled at him. "Betray me."

"I'm not proud of what I did," Cloud told her, still so close to her she could feel her angry breath. "But you should have known better. You should have known I wouldn't have truly taken you. You should have known I wouldn't turn on any of us."

"I thought I did," she said, her voice a growl and her muscles clenched. She refused to cry, even though her jaw quavered. "But obviously not."

She looked him in the eye and then turned away, sending a sharp shoulder to his chest, but he caught her by the shoulder. "Don't give me that," he snapped. "Listen to me, I was never going to turn me in. Do you forget who saved me from my first chance at jail? Did you think I'd forgotten?"

Yuffie looked up at him. "It sure seemed like it. There was no one in that car but you and me."

"The car was wired, Yuff," Cloud said.

Yuffie felt as though a ton of bricks had been dropped on her. She felt as dumb as she ever had. Of course the car would have been wired. But still her resolve was as stern as ever, stubborn to the end.

"I just came from 3 months of pretending to be a girl. And you know why? To destroy a large file base of Auhncore's, and download it and bring it here to use." He pulled out the flash drives. "But if you haven't forgotten, we took you back," Cloud said, looking at the Wutain. "I took you back after you stole from us, you took from us and left us helpless on a task to save everyone."

Yuffie took a step back and looked at him, and he looked at her. There were no tears on her face, though her eyes looked watery. She looked him in the eye, and he met her gaze squarely. Something passed between them, an understanding maybe, or something unfathomable. She walked away until she was at the door to her room, and then turned back. "You better not wake me up again," she said, and with that she walked back to her room and shut the door.

"She beat me up both times she saw me," Vincent said stoically, absently touching his own chest. Cloud knew this was Vincent's way of telling him he'd gotten off easy. With that, he walked to a room and shut the door behind him. Elena was left, going to a third room. Reno flopped on the couch, and looked up at Cloud.

"Turn off the light and find somewhere to sleep."

Cloud obeyed, reflecting on the most awkward altercation he'd been through. He wasn't quite sure what had just happened or what would happen from here. But he knew it would be interesting, to say the least.

* * *

**A/N: **Hey! Its a real quick update, but I was bored and I wanted to update. So yayyy. How exciting is that?

So anyway, a few things: First of all...we've hit 300 reviews! Whooo! Yeahhhh! It's real exciting. Secondly, I've had the most of amount of reviews on the last chapter since chapter 15. Yayy!

Anywayy, I would like to thank my reviewers and send a special thanks to Pen Against Sword, who pointed out my big weakness - dialogue punctuation. Also pointed out the importance of looking over chapters, and I looked up a guide online for punctuation and went over this chapter, so hopefully the punctuation is a lot better! I'm probably going to replace each chapter with correct punctuation when I get the time. So thank you very much!

So in this chapter not only is Vincent met up with the group, but Cloud too! Its rather obvious why this chapter is all about forgiveness, especially since it concerns two men who have trouble forgiving themselves. Now we have two main groups - the prisoners and the rescuers. That's the majority o fthe chapter, just kind of a transition where veryone meets up before the big mission in the next chapter! Yayy, can you even wait? It's taken up 20 chapters to get there but we're there!

Thanks for reading! :)


	21. Mission Impossible

**Chapter 20**

Mission Impossible

_Break out! Break out! As we escape through the windows,  
Head for the car, and never look back, singing, singing, "Break out! Break out!"  
Our time has come and we've got these big city dreams._

Getting away was not quite so easy for Kylie.

She was the main attraction of the ball, which was the point, until it came to the part of getting away. The result was people had long started either leaving or finding rooms to sleep in before Kylie could sneak out. Of course, by this point Kim had been missing for a time, and Kylie did not want to know what was wrong or where she was occupied. She instead took the opportunity to escape to the first floor bathroom, and proceeded to climb out the window.

But as she walked around the back, rounding the corner she found a security guard waiting.

"We were told you might try this," a guard said, and reached out to grab her shoulder.

She leaned back and before he could try again, she kicked him in the crotch and he went down. It was the most simple and effective way without making a big scene. She silently cursed him, because now Kim would know that her leaving was of her own volition, and she was willing to commit an act of violence to make it happen. Basically, it would make her suspicious.

Oh well.

Kylie proceeded, the darkness of the sky starting to recede as the first hints of light came. She groaned, wanting a proper amount of sleep, but knowing she wouldn't get it; not for a while. First she went to the Honeybee and got a stash of supplies (included recent items she'd packed in her purse) that she put in a small backpack. She looked at the place sadly, knowing she couldn't come back. She left, and by that time the sun had risen and the first signs of life were coming to the streets of Midgar.

Midgar had been reconfigured some, and now the slums either littered the outskirts, or were part of a "South District" of Midgar. The busier parts were closer to the center of the city.

She found Reno's apartment at the base of the old, abandoned restaurant building, and was texting Cloud when the door swung open. She looked up, surprised and worried about her lack of weaponry, but was met only by a solemn stare. "Oh shit," she said, realizing lack of weaponry shouldn't have been her concern.

Her older brother stood in the doorway, staring down at her as she grimaced. He pulled her inside and shut the door behind them, bolting and locking the door. Kylie looked inside the apartment, seeing that her brother and Cloud would not be the only company to endure.

At the table sat Elena, sipping a cup of coffee and eating a bagel, looking grumpy. Next to her was Cloud, who grimaced at her as he drank a mug of coffee. Next to him was a man that made Kylie gasp and then suppress a yelp (which was still audible), for at the table was a dark haired man who looked up at her with blood red eyes. See, at the table was the AVALANCHE member, famously having eluded Auhncore, Vincent Valentine.

Furthermore, on the couch sat a familiar redhead who owned the apartment, Reno, who was eating a bowl of cereal. He lifted his chin to her in sort of a nod, before going back to his cereal and the show on the television. Next to him a person sat that made Kylie's eyes bulge again; Yuffie Kisaragi, tearing up a bagel and eating it. Her eyes stayed fixed on the show, not even glancing at Kylie.

She turned to face her brother at last. And he did not look happy.

To be fair, most would say her brother never looked happy. Kylie, however, had grown up with Rude and knew him long enough to know he was angry and upset. He glared at her, and took a breath. "What were you thinking?" he asked in that deadpan, but there was enough anger underlying to make the whole room turn and stare.

Kylie said nothing, just looked at the floor.

"For weeks and weeks I called. I tried to speak with you. When I returned, you were gone." Rude glared.

Elena looked half afraid and half shocked, mouth frozen open as it had been about to take a bite of her bagel. Vincent turned back to his newspaper, sipping his coffee. Cloud had a vaguely guilty look on, but only under a blank calmness. Yuffie was frozen mid chew. "Look at Mr. Stoic-Face," she whispered to Reno, who snorted into his cereal.

"Now I'm told you were operating a covert mission against Auhncore," he said, and Kylie knew he was enraged. "You could have been killed. You could have been dead, and I never would have known until you were a headline."

Kylie said nothing, as though she and Rude had switched personalities - at least as far as talking was concerned.

"I'm told you were operating within the house of a major Auhncore boss and you never even said a word."

She finally burst out, "And what would I have said?" she asked, looking up at him. "Told you?"

He nodded.

"Right, Rude. Had I told you, you never would allow it."

Rude said nothing.

"What should I have done? Explained it all and gotten your okay? We both know that never would have happened. Well listen up Rude - I'm an adult. I'm an adult now, not just the little kid sister you used to protect from Dad's bottles and Mom's silence. I'm an adult, and I want to be part of the resistance," she said, meeting his eyes squarely. "Whether I'm operating with you…or without you."

There was a very tense silence spread over the apartment, so thick it was almost palpable. Yuffie shifted uncomfortably and actually stuck her tongue out. "Mmm. I love the taste of tension in the morning," she muttered.

At last, Rude nodded.

"Alright," she said, and smiled at him, hugging him around the neck. He tensed up. "Oh relax."

"Jesus," Reno said, putting down an empty bowl. "We better not get any more surprises this operation week."

Yuffie nodded fervently.

"Operation?" Cloud asked, as Kylie looked equally curious.

"Don't worry about it," Reno said, glancing sidelong at Vincent and Cloud. There was something there, a tinge of pride or maybe annoyance.

Yuffie looked at him then shook her head. "We're getting everyone out."

Cloud fumbled on his mug, ending up with hot coffee down his front. He yelped and Kylie was frozen, but was jerked into action and grabbed some napkins. She pressed them to his front and he took them to mop himself off sheepishly.

"What can I do?" Cloud asked immediately after he dried himself.

"We're set," Reno said.

Yuffie looked at the redhead again. He looked at her. "Yuff, if we change the plan now-"

"We can use as much help as we can get," she hissed.

"We already did the test run," he replied in an equally sharp whisper. "If we work them in, we'll have to do it all over again."

"Not necessarily," She argued. "Vincent was an SP. I bet he could do it again."

Reno nodded. "And your leader-boy?"

Yuffie frowned and then turned to Cloud. "Cloud, I don't really think it's a good-"

Cloud stared incredulously. "You aren't going to let me help?" he asked dumbly.

"Well-" Yuffie started.

"No. I'm helping," Cloud insisted.

Reno glared. "Listen, pal, we've already got this all worked out. Making changes will just screw us over."

Cloud glared back. "Alright, buddy, but if you haven't forgotten, Auhncore still thinks I'm helping them."

At this, Rude spoke up. "No. They don't."

Cloud looked at Rude with his brows furrowed, then slumped.

"I'm sorry?" Yuffie said, though it came out as more of a question.

Cloud glared at all of them, to see the same expression on all their faces. At last he looked at Vincent, hoping for something that would show sympathy, but found nothing. His jaw clenched and he threw his napkins down on the table before storming away.

* * *

The day had finally come. They had drilled, and run over it so often, made sure as little as possible would go wrong. Reno had been instigating black outs and brown outs with the electricity all week so that when the real deal came, it would be an annoyance, but a fairly regular one that would make Auhncore boiling mad, since electricity was ShinRa's forte after all. They were all in position, just like the drill they had run the other day with a minor exception - Vincent was inside the lounge of the SP, making sure he could access the door to the prisoners' floor and keeping people out so another accident like the one in the drill would not happen.

Yet Yuffie was still nervous. If this didn't work, security would be raised so tight that it would be impossible to save Barret before execution. Today was Thursday, nothing special about today, nothing significant.

Except Auhncore was about to be breached.

"MC in position," Yuffie said into her microphone, as she bent over a garbage bag in her uniform.

"No. 1 in position," Reno's voice came, easy and calm. She heard him slurp coffee obnoxiously just to prove his point.

"No. 2 in position," Rude echoed from his car behind the building.

"And No. 3 all set," Elena said. She was in the hotel, setting up her computer that would show her the video feed from Reno and Yuffie's camera, as well as Rude's emergency one.

Yuffie took a deep breath. This was it. They couldn't screw this up - lives were on the line. The lives of her friends - the lives of a father, a husband who did not know he was soon-to-be a father, a last being of his species, of a beautiful woman and of a man who had risked it all to join the good side.

"1 minute in counting."

On the other side of the microphone, Reno stood up with his briefcase in hand. He tucked his paper under his arm, and walked towards the building on the other side of the street. He dumped his coffee into a trash can.

"50 seconds."

As the walk sign appeared, Reno walked amidst a crowd of people crossing the street, many of them business-men and -women. His polished shoes slapped on the ground evenly, betraying nothing but calmness and the boredom that came with reporting to work.

"40 seconds."

He reached the other side of the street and paused in the most businesslike manner, looking at his watch. While it was like treading a familiar path, he knew there was so much more at stake than the plans or the run through could possibly have shown.

"30 seconds."

He walked toward the building among a mass of people. The whole building was by itself smack in the middle of the city, stone plaza surrounding it to make it the central focus. The buildings near it were a good ways away to not detract attention, but an alley was still formed with dumpsters and what not, which is where Yuffie waited.

"20 seconds."

He walked through the door, not pausing to hold the door because that was not normal here, and would make him out of the ordinary. No one should remember him. He was pleasant enough to form a personality, but nothing memorable as overly friendly, overly anything. He was just another guy.

"10 seconds."

He walked across the marble lobby at a comfortable pace, his shoes slapping against the floor. His briefcase hung in his hand, not anything to make the guards stationed near the doors suspicious.

"5 seconds."

He looked at the reception desk, where people quickly walked up and were sent on their way.

"4."

He walked closer and the receptionist looked up. She eyed him quickly, and gave a slight smile.

"3."

Closer and closer.

"2."

He walked up to the desk and rested his arm comfortably.

"1."

The receptionist smiled up at him.

"0. Mission Start."

The clock turned to 1 o'clock. On the dot.

"I'm here for an appointment with Dr. Arnette." Reno said to the receptionist, same words as before.

She looked down at the large appointment book in front of her, and nodded. "Rescheduled hm?" she said sympathetically. "These electricity fritzes have been a pain."

"Tell me about it." Reno chuckled. "25th floor, right?"

She nodded. "Yes but…"

"I came early," Reno said and smiled. "Thank you."

He walked towards the bathroom, and as soon as he walked through the door he muttered into the microphone on his suit, "Phase 1 Section 1 complete. Let's kick this shit."

* * *

Back at the apartment, Kylie had gotten little sleep. The missioners had been up late working on the final touches, reviewing, making sure everything was perfect. Kylie herself was not upset at not being included in this particular mission. Not that she was too frightened or it was too dangerous - but Kylie knew that everything was in place, and she was satisfied by the successful conclusion of her own 3 month mission.

The same could not be said for Cloud.

All night he'd been pissed, and she'd heard him pacing in the other room. That night, Kylie, Elena and Yuffie had ended up all sleeping on Reno's huge king-sized bed. All three fit comfortably and with room to spare. Reno was not pleased by this, and had first joked about sharing the bed with all three of them with a suggestive tone, but they had not been amused. The sleeping situation was awkward, but what had to be done had to be done. All three had fared much worse sleeping situations. Meanwhile, in the other two guest rooms, Cloud and Vincent shared one room while Reno and Rude occupied another.

Eventually Cloud had gone to sleep or settled, whichever had come first. But Kylie knew him too well for that. The next morning, when Elena and Yuffie got up on either side of her, Kylie awoke as well. She waited until the Mission Impossible team had left the apartment before getting up herself. She made herself a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal and waited. Sure enough, she saw a shadow pass as a door opened soundlessly, and Cloud silently came out. He was almost to the door before Kylie spoke up.

"Don't go do something stupid."

Startled, he turned and flipped on a light. He looked at her with no expression in his eyes except determination.

"Their plan is good. I heard it. If anyone can pull it off, it's those people who just left. Cloud, the only thing getting involved will do is mess everything up and make it a higher chance that they'll get caught or worse."

He just looked at her with those blues that made her absolutely melt, as cheesy as it sounded. Finally, he opened his mouth. "There is nothing stupid about saving your friends."

Frustrated she stood up. "When you risk everyone else just to satisfy your own hero complex it is! When you take the chance of ruining everything just because you have some twisted need to always be involved or doing something, it is stupid!"

He just looked at her. "You can't stop me."

She slammed her hands on the table and walked over to him. "You are so stubborn," she said to him, lifting her chin just to look at him.

When he looked down at her like that, determined and so fierce, she just wanted to press her lips against his. Maybe he saw something in her eyes, or maybe he was just fed up, but for whatever reason, he turned away. "Maybe," he said, but said nothing more.

She didn't know why she said it, but it came out like some sort of word vomit. "Just because you feel guilty isn't a reason to screw everything up."

He looked back at her harshly, and turned back around and stormed away. She watched helplessly as he opened the door and slammed it behind him.

"Moody," she muttered and shook her head.

* * *

Yuffie had to act normal. She'd had plenty of training in stealth operations from back home, and plenty of experience of undercover from her own experiences, but this was so important. This wasn't a piece of materia, this was lives in her hands. Elena and Reno kept a running commentary through the earpiece, and Reno counted down to putting out the power. "5, 4, 3, 2, andddd," Reno dragged it out, "could I get a drumroll?"

"No," both Elena and Yuffie answered. Both then grimaced, though the other couldn't see.

"Fine. 3, 2, 1."

At that moment, the lights in the whole building flickered, then went out. Yuffie jumped into action and entered the building through the vents. She had a time limit, and could leave no evidence of her being there. She wore gloves in case prints were checked for, and her hair was in a neat bun to prevent any stray hairs from falling out.

She completed climbing through the vent without any trouble, dropping into the storage space and changing into her heels. Yuffie checked the time and spoke into her microphone. "State your positions."

"Main lobby," Reno's voice came.

"In the building," Rude said, having just entered during the confusion. "In the camera room."

"In the hotel," Elena said.

Yuffie nodded and navigated her way to the staircase, as practiced. The lights came back to life on schedule, and she proceeded to floor 3 before walking onto the floor. Everyone was less baffled than less time, but they were now griping about the power outages of a power company. Amidst all the grumbling and general feeling of disgruntlement, she entered the elevator with others. She pressed no button until she was alone and had to press the button for floor 56. She swiped her keycard and hoped no one else would come on and wonder why she was going to floor 56.

"Floor 49," Yuffie announced to her microphone. "No. 2?"

"Tapes switched so far. Awaiting further need for switching."

"No. 3?"

"On standby with helicopter for further notification, helicopter started and ready to take off.."

"Heading to Phase 3, Emancipation." She smiled. "Seems like Luck is on our side."

But then, while riding that elevator up, things started to go wrong.

* * *

Rude was watching the cameras, marking which ones he had to switch the video for, which ones would be most important. That's when he noticed something that snagged his attention, enough to make him look. He saw a man walk out of frame, but it bugged him so he looked at the camera next to it.

But as he looked at the camera that revealed the lobby of the top floor, the President's office, a man looked at the camera and then it went black. Rude said nothing so far, but if he had seen correctly, something was very wrong.

In the plan, there was never a time Rufus Shinra should have been in the building.

* * *

Vincent listened silently to the conversation in his ear as he sat in the SP lounge, laying on the couch and feigning sleep. He was wearing the SP outfit, armed with brown contacts and blonde highlights in his hair that he could not manage to be fond of. So far, he'd managed to keep the lounge empty, whether it was the amount of work for the SP members or simply his brewing of an extremely bitter and horrible pot of coffee, but his part was going smoothly. He'd kept the lounge clear and opened the window that was on the South Side. So when Rude's low voice came over the microphone he sat up.

"Orange Alert," Rude's voice came.

"What?" Elena asked, impatient with Rude's unhurried tone.

"Possible sighting of Rufus Shinra in the building. Upon further investigation, the camera went black."

There was a curse from Yuffie's end, but Vincent could almost see her shake her head. "Well, I don't know why he's here, but keep him out of our way. Otherwise it shouldn't matter."

There was silence.

"No. 2, no one can see you nodding," Elena griped.

"Message received," Rude said, if only to appease Elena.

At that time, the doors opened to admit the short Wutain. He looked at her, and though no nervousness showed in her face, not a glisten of sweat, he knew she was facing turmoil under that surface. She looked at him steadily. "Ready?" she asked.

He nodded.

The looked over at the same time at the door labeled 'Special Access.' Vincent had gotten a hold of the card they would need to access the door, as well as the code they would need. Yuffie changed her skirt, blazer and tie to a black set with a red tie, though she still wore a skirt. It was an option for SP females, and the female she was impersonating usually wore the skirt. She took a deep breath, and Vincent looked at her, as though making sure she was okay to commence.

She nodded, not looking at him, and they both walked to the door. Vincent swiped his card and the door opened, only to reveal a small hallway before a required code and another card swipe. They were granted access and both commenced with serious, blank faces as they walked up the stairs that went sideways, and doubled over themselves. They opened the door at the top and entered.

This was the part that was based on shady guesswork and speculation. They were in a long white hallway with a door at the end that looked to be mechanically locked. Along the hallway there were sets of doors. The first thing they passed was a window that looked into the control room where two other SP members sat. They were SP that controlled this level in security and in all the locks and other technical aspects. Vincent and Yuffie entered through the door at the back of the room.

"Relief shift," Vincent announced.

The SP members knew better, but before they could even turn around, they had been knocked unconscious. Vincent's Turk instinct was to kill them, but they hadn't seen Yuffie and him well enough to describe. Yuffie leaned over to the monitors that showed security footage and deleted the footage that had just showed Vincent and Yuffie as well as the one of them entering. She nodded to Vincent, who was binding and gagging the SP members. Together they shoved them into the room closet and locked it from the outside.

Yuffie walked over to the control panel and shut down all the security cameras. She turned around and grinned back at Vincent. "Let's get to work." She looked over the panel to figure out how to open the locks in the prisoner's room, grinning as she worked.

* * *

Tifa woke with a start in her cell. Her eyes had hollows and she had lost some weight from the meager meals. They wanted to make sure she couldn't fight back. But Tifa always ate every last morsel. Cloud used to refuse sometimes, to show he wasn't dependent on them. Tifa didn't see it that way though - by using them to give her energy, they would supply their own destruction when the moment came.

Next to her, Reeve was still asleep. She walked over to the window. "Reeve," she hissed.

He woke up slowly, cracking one eye than the other. Reeve had moved from his own body art to also drawing on his walls, all sorts of things that would make them mad. But they wouldn't dare come in to scrub it off. That would mean transferring him to another cell, and they wouldn't take any chances.

Cloud hadn't been seen for 6 months. Tifa had feared at times he had been killed, or was being tortured until he was driven insane. But at the same time, she had a feeling that he was okay. Had he been killed or tortured to insanity, surely someone would have been in the brag, to crush their morale. Emotional torture was a tool they liked to use, and would brandish that weapon proudly.

"Look," she whispered, and pointed.

Cid was back. Cid had been taken away, but he had been returned to his cell. But he was not as good as new. Over the past three months, they had been taking Cid away more often, at first he came back only slightly battered. That was nothing like now.

His jaw had a large purple bruise spreading over it. His nose was bleeding sluggishly. He had cuts in his arm and blood seeped out from under his fingernails. Ugly bruises bloomed on his neck, where he had apparently been strangled, just enough to make him choke and cut off his air long enough to be painful, but do no real damage. These people loved torture, and knew how to hurt without causing lasting damage that would hurt the minds.

What was strange was Cid hadn't told them why this new round of torture had started. He hadn't told them what they were asking him. Barret had been taken away, but after his execution had been announced, he had told Auhncore they could torture him all they wanted, he wouldn't say shit. After all, he was going to die anyway.

Tifa shivered. Execution. The past weeks had been tense, but this week more than ever. Reeve had drawn up a calendar on his wall, on the far one so Tifa could see. He had used every scrap of news on the day he could get, using their own counts on when they had been captured and put in here to deduce that this was the week of Barret's execution. The man had been keeping a brave face, but there was a chill in the air. Tifa looked at Reeves makeshift calendar. According to it, Barret was due to die in two days.

Nanaki, or Red, was awake and pacing, glancing over at Cid's cell occasionally. He tried not to betray his concern, but wasn't doing a good job. But Red was dealing with captivity fairly well, and Tifa hadn't decided if his previous experience as a prisoner of Hojo was hurting or helping.

Suddenly, Cid looked up. He had an old black eye and healing cut on his temple. "They keep asking me about Shera," he said, his voice raspy. He winced, obvious that it hurt to talk. "From what they've said…she's gotten away. They keep asking me about escape routes, people she might have known. I told them Shera didn't socialize much. They didn't care."

Everyone was silent.

"She's pregnant," he said, cutting into the silence.

Tifa couldn't help it - she gasped. Cid's eyes snapped her way, sending her a cold glare.

"What? Going to congratulate me?" he asked, eyes narrowing.

"Cid-" Tifa tried to start.

"No. Don't try to make me feel bad. I'm going to be a daddy, huh? A kid is coming into this world with a dad who the whole world thinks is a crook. It's going to come into this world while I'm rotting here in jail," Cid scoffed, sounding eerie with his scratchy voice. "Think it's a boy? Or maybe a girl. What does it matter. I've thought about it. It'll be born soon enough, if not already. Just in time to see daddy get executed on live TV."

"Cid!" Tifa cried, but was cut off.

An odd whirring sound filled the air. Everyone looked around confused. Finally they found the source - the cameras, the cameras that had monitored their every move since the moment they've been here whirred and slumped, the little red light turning off.

They all looked at it slack jawed. In all their time it had never turned off, never stopped watching. But here it was, slumped over like it caught a case of the blues and decided to stop caring. But it was all the cameras in the room, all slumped over like they lost a game.

Another whirring sound filled the air, more familiar, and it was the whirring of locks. The door was coming unlocked. But whether it was the overwhelming nature of it all or just their confusion, but the whirring got overpoweringly loud. The sound of pounding footsteps reached them from the hallway through the crack in the door, and they were coming closer. Other doors were being opened and the sound of one word was spoken over and over.

"Clear!" a female voice floated in, familiar, itching at Tifa's mind.

"Clear," a deeper one came, and the itch took over, maddening. It was like seeing something from long ago that you had forgotten was there.

The footsteps came close, and finally the door was flung open. Two figures holding guns came in.

Familiarity hit them full blast as two figures burst into the room. Tifa stared, wide eyed, and her hands floated up to her mouth to cover it. "No way…"

"Shhh!" the ever familiar Yuffie Kisaragi held her finger up to her lips. She grinned. "Time to bust out of this joint."

* * *

Rufus Shinra had video chatted with his Turks the night previous. He was regularly updated from his safe house under the old ShinRa building, and thus he knew the mission was due to take place tomorrow. He'd asked just enough questions, but not too many to provoke anything in his own Turks. Even they couldn't know of the plan ahead, for all he trusted them. He had to go into this alone.

So when he entered the building during the blackout and made his way to the stairs, he knew that the way Reno was getting Yuffie into the building without getting stopped was also enabling his entry without suspicion. He sat in no wheelchair and hid under no sheet. He was barely noticed, even back in his trademark white suit with his trademark attitude. Even his hair didn't catch a glimpse as he rode up the elevator, swiping his keycard when necessary.

But what he knew would be a problem was the cameras, which were being watched by none other than Rude. So when he reached the top floor, he employed a technology created by Reeve himself to shut down the camera by frying its insides. The receptionist frowned at his back. When he turned, she started and dropped her coffee mug, where it shattered. "I believe the President would like to see me." He said calmly.

She sputtered, but knew well enough not to say anything. She was probably an old ShinRa receptionist, well trusted. "Well- Do…Do you have an appointment?"

"No. But I believe he would like to hear what I have to say."

Just then a voice came from her intercom. "Let him in," The voice of Jamison Auhn ordered.

While Jamison Auhn might officially be Co-President, that was only a sham. After all, two Presidents would surely stop an empire like ShinRa from forming. Ha. What a joke. They might call one Mr. Auhn and one Mr. Core, but in truth Mr. Auhn's true name is Jamison Auhncore. And Jamison Auhncore ran the show - Mr. Core was just for show.

The secretary reluctantly admitted him, and he shut the large wooden door behind him.

Seated at the desk was Jamison Auhn, as he was called now, and he was staring at Rufus with his penetrating eyes. Rufus looked back calmly, having perfected that sort of gaze himself. He walked over to the bar and helped himself to a glass of scotch. As he was pouring, no sound but the lapping liquid filled the room. Finally he turned.

"I suppose you are curious to my being here?" Rufus asked delicately.

"Cut the crap," Jamison growled. "What the hell are you doing here? This isn't your company anymore."

Rufus walked over to the desk and his eyes narrowed. "I made this company. Your little mutiny changes nothing."

"Well I assume you have something to say, or else I can have you escorted out." Jamison raised his eyebrows.

Rufus looked at the chair. "I suppose you'll invite me to sit?"

Jamison impatiently waved a hand toward the chair. Rufus took his own sweet time sitting down, and swished his scotch in the glass. Jamison waited with the appearance of patience.

"I have information," Rufus finally said slowly, "about the whereabouts of Vincent Valentine and Yuffie Kisaragi."

Jamison snorted. "We've had plenty of tips. All were wrong."

Rufus held up his hands. "Well if you would rather not hear-"

"No," Jamison said. "Sit. But unless you can tell me their exact location right now, its worthless."

Rufus smiled. "Not only can I tell you where they are, but I can tell you exactly how to capture them."

Jamison looked at him, eyes narrowed, suspicious. "And what would you want in return for this information?"

Rufus smirked. "Reinstatement."

Jamison shook his head, but Rufus held up a hand.

"But wait - instead of you being my public face, you and I would be partners. Mr. Core would serve the same purpose he does now." That pulled a chuckle out of Jamison. "Equal in everything, none of that silly bossing you around."

Jamison considered. "How good is this information?"

A slow smirk spread across Rufus's face like the smile of the Cheshire Cat. He looked just as self satisfied as the Cat, and as though he kept a big secret. "Vincent Valentine and Yuffie Kisaragi are in this very building as we speak, my friend. Now do we have a deal, partner?"

Jamison's face flooded with shock, knowing Rufus wouldn't dare make such a statement if it wasn't true, and he stood. He nodded and held at his hand. "Partners."

Rufus took his hand and shook. He smiled, his every familiar smirk. "I think we'll make very good partners, my friend." He let go of his hand. "Very good indeed."

* * *

Tears sprang to Tifa's eyes. "So far this is still a covert operation!"

Vincent Valentine, with painfully short hair, snorted.

"Shut up! It is!" Yuffie protested as she jogged over to Tifa's cell door.

"How- What- Where- When…?" Tifa tried to ask, but her words died as soon as they fell off her lips.

"Questions later. Escape now!" Yuffie looked at Tifa's eyes. The very hope and strength in them filled Tifa, giving her some of their strength to return her to what she was before so many months in jail. She straightened up.

What they hadn't realized was the loud whirring had been their cells. Now Yuffie pulled out a keychain and fitted four colored circles into circles apparently on the door. The whirring picked up and Tifa's cell opened. She stood there, dumbfounded. Opening cells usually meant a carting off to torture.

Freedom.

"Well don't just stand there!" Yuffie said. To someone else she said, "Helicoptor needs to be by the window!"

Vincent had opened Nanaki's cell and was working on Cid's as Yuffie unlocked Reeve's. Vincent immediately moved onto Barret, so all five prisoners stood, freed. The men all stood in their cells as Tifa had at first before finally emerging. Yuffie looked at them all and frowned. "You all look like broken dolls," she said, still frowning. "C'mon. You're not prisoners anymore."

"Not so fast," Vincent's even voice came.

Yuffie glared at him. "Anyway, just walk in between us like everything is normal."

Yuffie led them out through the long white hallway, Vincent bringing up the rear. Both had their guns out as though they were transporting the prisoners. At a steady walk they went down the staircase and out the door into a lounge type place.

The roar of a helicopter became deafening through an open window. "C'mon!" Yuffie shouted, and brought them over to the window. A helicopter hovered as close as it could to the window, a ladder having been hooked onto the inside of the window sill with a grappling hook. "GO," Yuffie shouted at Tifa, and like a bewildered sheep, Tifa obeyed. Climbing through the window, she fitted her hands and feet on the rope, staring down at the ground so far away.

"Don't look, just climb!" Another voice came. Elena was in the helicopter, which was raised just enough to make the ladder climb upwards instead of sideways. Tifa obeyed and climbed up, followed by a herded Cid. They were looking inside, and Cid was joining them in the helicopter when the elevator dinged its arrival.

"Oh shit," Yuffie said. "GO! Go!" she shouted at Reeve. Reeve obeyed, full of adrenaline as he scurried up the rope.

The elevator opened, but it was not one or two SP. It was at least 5 SP members with even more guards who poured out with their guns drawn. Yuffie stared, before shouting at Barret. "GO! GO!" And lifted her gun to the SP.

"Place your gun down and bring in the prisoners!" An SP member shouted. "Stop or we will fire!"

Barret tried to protest but Vincent turned his gun on the big black man, and Barret obeyed. Nanaki was in a makeshift sling on Barret's back that he had to mind as he climbed out. He climbed up as he looked back, seeing Yuffie and Vincent look at each other. They knew they would not be shot, executive order, so they took a chance. They started to shoot.

"Get out the window!" Vincent ordered Yuffie. She tried to protest, but he looked at her. Just as she was heading over to the window, holding back advancing SP members, one pulled something that looked like a clear grenade out of his pocket.

"Oh no-" Yuffie shouted and tried to dive to the window. But he had thrown in, and a white fog filled the air around Yuffie and Vincent. The SP were pulling masks on and Yuffie tried to hold her breath, but coughed and inhaled the thick white smoke. Her senses immediately went foggy and her limbs went weak. The gunfire ceased, which showed Vincent was not immune to this either. She was lying on the ground from her dive, and feeble tried to pull her body up. Her arms were out over the sill and her head fighting its way up when the world went black. Tifa cried out as she slumped, and only her arms hung out the window, her head slumped against the side of the wall and the rest of her body behind her.

A thump announced the collapse of Vincent, and Elena was shaking her head and babbling into her microphone.

"Elena!" Reno snapped, throwing away code. "Remember what we said?"

"…bu-" Elena started, but remembered she was a Turk. What was the use of all that time proving she was no rookie if she was going to act like one. "Right. Continue onwards, no matter what."

"No matter what," Reno confirmed, though Elena thought he sounded unhappy.

The gas mask equipped guards and SP ran to the window, but the helicopter was lifting away. They started firing, but Elena had risen above and past their range.

"Mission Complete," Elena said over the microphone. "Goal Achieved," she said, but her voice quavered. "Lost two agents, MC and No. 4."

"Over and out," Rude answered.

"…over and out," Reno said.

"Over." Elena nodded, and looked back at the building. "And Out."

* * *

**A/N:** First of all, this update, like the last, has been quicker than usual but I've been bored! And when the school year starts there will be a drought of chapters soo...

So extraa longggg chapter this time! 600 words longer than the longest chapter! But I think it was necessary, so sorry if it's a pain in the butt. I really wanted to get the whole mission in one foul swoop, since I think the impact would be better. Speaking of which...

Ah! All went wrong! Yuffie and Vincent captured? Yes, I'm sure you were all excited for the whole gang to be together, and now this? But trust me, its not all pointless excuses for me to make heroic scenes. All will fall into place. But what are they going to do?

On that note, Rufus is a traitor! But before you yell at me for giving you no warning, I used both sneaky symbolism AND outright telling you that Rufus was a traitor. First of all, if you go back to the chapter called 'Aconite,' you will see that in such chapter as soon as Rufus enters the church, Yuffie starts playing with a plant called 'aconite.' If you look up the plant meaning of aconite, the most popular result I found was quite literal. Aconite means 'Beware, a deadly foe is near.' Similar meanings are hatred and mistrust. So there you go for that symbolism, and I even hinted you in on symbolism by giving you the symbolic meaning of Blue Violets.

Secondly, Rufus's encounter with Godo was the glaring 'hey, Rufus is still a bad guy.' Even though I love him, he is!

I'd like to thank my reviewers - very high review count again, so I hope I'm satisfying! And as I said, we're now well over 300 and thank you so much! Thank you all so very much, there's getting a lot of you (and on different chapters) to thank you all personally but again, thank you!

Quote is from the song 'Break Out! Break Out!' by All Time Low on the CD Put Up or Shut Up. Been waiting to use it for this chapter, actually. :)

Hope you enjoy :) P.S: loving the return of doing a smiley face, though I hope people don't try to put it in actual stories. Eeekk.


	22. V for Victory, Index Finger Down

**Chapter 21**

V for Victory, Index Finger Down

_Victory is won not in miles but in inches. Win a little now, hold your ground, and later, win a little more._

After all the dust had settled and the gas had faded, the Crime Squad (specially trained SP members) were investigating the breakout, taking statements of the two knocked out SP and futher finding out how this happened. As all this happened, and SP and guard members milled about, Rufus Shinra and Jamison Auhncore exited the elevator. Looking at the SP's floor, they looked across at the two figures that were so important.

"We lost the others," Rufus informed him.

"We caught them once. We can get them again," Jamison said, looking at the two unconscious figures as though they were a particularly juicy steak, or an especially large present. The look in his eye, triumphant with a glint of madness was almost scary, but Rufus chose to ignore it. "These two were the ones we needed."

They looked at the forms. Vincent Valentine had fallen to his knees before keeling over, and laid flat on the ground with his face in the carpet. His one hand still rested on the gun, and his other was uncovered by the claw. Jamison smirked, which was soon matched by Rufus's as the blonde looked at the Wutain girl.

She'd been close to escape, and the ladder had been abandoned outside the window to prevent any guards or SP members from catching on. Her arms stretched out the window, which hoisted her shoulders up at an awkward angle near her head. Her head was against the wall, one cheek smashed up on the wall with the rest of her body curving down the wall and laying out behind her.

Both men wore their crisp suits, both pleased by the catch. Rufus Shinra looked at the little Wutain, remembering seeing her for the first time underground as she had asked for his help in so many words. He had told her he would help her for revenge, but even then he had known better. Opportunity had rang his doorbell, and he'd taken it. He knew that with Yuffie he could get his old job back, and do what he was meant to do. He smiled.

He had promised to help her find her Valentine, and he had promised to aid her in saving her friends. He'd never broken a promise.

"Move them to the unused cells," Jamison ordered, "and immediately start searching the city. They can't hide a helicopter."

--

But they did hide the helicopter. Elena had landed it on a roof where her pilot friend had taken it off to his own private landing pad and hanger. Elena had taken the escapees from the roof down through the hotel, and then through the streets. Soon a search would be started. How they had been discovered Elena did not know, but they weren't going to take any chances now. So they dodged through allies, through the sewers at times, until they reached a warehouse. The warehouse had plenty of boxes and what not, and a set of iron stairs up to a loft of sort. This was also the warehouse where Yuffie had enlisted the Turks in her mission to save her friends.

The shock had worn off of the prisoners slightly. Cid had started randomly putting out a drawn out cuss at long intervals. Barret was shaking his head, and Tifa was frowning. Elena had not been there long when Rude emerged from the stairs in the loft, joining them. Reno was the next to join, about half an hour later. By this time, Barret and Cid were mad, wanting to do something, not knowing what to do.

Reno joined the party, and looked around, and frowned. "What the hell happened to Kisaragi and Valentine?"

Elena and Rude exchanged looks. Rude had seen through the cameras while Elena had watched, so Reno was the only one in the dark on how it had all went wrong. He did not look happy at all, even after what he'd said to Elena.

Tifa nodded, pressing her lips together. "They were getting us all out when the Snow Patrol piled in."

Reno's brow furrowed. "Well how the hell did they find out?"

Rude looked up. "I saw Rufus Shinra."

Reno's look was first baffled, and then it slowly changed in to a horrible realization. "I heard you say…but no. He wanted Yuff to help him get revenge-"

"Well apparently not," Elena said, "because Rude says that he came out of the Presidents office with the President."

There was silence in the room, when Barret finally spoke up. "What the # are you all talking about?"

The Turks exchanged a look and pulled up some crates. Minutes turned into hours as they started at the beginning, from Yuffie finding them to splitting up, to the true reason for Cloud's betrayal-

At that point Reno cussed. "Shit. Kylie and Cloud!"

The problem was that Cid and Barret were boiling about the betrayal. "What the hell does he have to do with anything, the # traitor!" Cid snapped.

"Later," Rude said, and flipped open his cell phone. He didn't say much, but basically he told the other person to evacuate the apartment and try to get rid of any signs of life having been there for a while. Tifa frowned. He looked up. "Kylie does not have Cloud. He left."

"Shit!" Reno said running fingers through his hair.

"Who is Kylie?" Reeve asked.

Elena sighed and the story continued, explaining Yuffie's getaway and Rude's finding of Cloud and what Cloud said, next explaining finding Vincent and his denial to come help. This part also made Barret and Cid start to get upset, but Nanaki pointed out the obvious. "Well, he was there," was all he said, and everyone calmed again.

They moved on to finding the underground tunnels and traveling to Kalm, where they planned. They did not mention their attempt at abandoning Yuffie, as these people needed no more reasons not to trust them. Then they explained finding Vincent, and then meeting with Cloud and Rude's sister, and what they had done.

When the long story was finally complete, everyone was just sitting and absorbing the information.

"Well you know what this means, right?" Tifa finally said.

Everyone looked at her. She met their eyes with her chocolate pair, the hollowness replaced by a determination, a purpose.

"We have to save them."

--

When Cloud strolled into the warehouse, daylight was just seeping through the small windows near the top. His arrival was not unnoticed, with at least one person on guard all night. At Cloud's arrival, everyone grumpily began stirring, whining until they saw who it was.

There was a silence that filled the warehouse, not eerie or uncomfortable. It was the silence of a home long left waiting for you, the silence of a welcoming, not a goodbye. The silence that filled the room was the kind that took the place of empty words and shallow greetings.

Tifa was the first one up, and she ran at Cloud and smashed herself into his arms for a hug. He instinctively held her as she squeezed the ever living out of him, eyes shut tight as though she was afraid if she opened them it would be a dream. Even after all the months in captivity, they could barely touch each other, sometimes couldn't even talk to them.

When she finally did open her eyes she saw a large chested girl of Rude's complexion, and somewhere between Tifa's age and Yuffie's. She was frowning at Tifa's display, but gave a small smile towards Tifa when she found her looking. Cid and Barret followed, giving Cloud a handshake turned into a hug, then slaps on the back as they pulled away. Reeve shook Cloud's hand and Nanaki nodded at Cloud. All of it was not cold, but they had the air of ones who - though long separated - were picking up exactly where they left off. Comfortable with each other.

By they time they were all in a circle, they had learned why Cloud had taken so long. He rubbed at his eyes, which were bloodshot and circled by dark rings.

"You see," Cloud started, rubbing his temples. "I was…frustrated, to say the least, that I wasn't involved in the mission to free the others so I was going to go out anyway and help Yuffie and Vincent. But instead, I saw Rufus Shinra…"

Everyone came to alert at this news, all wanting to know more about Rufus and how he had been involved in the capture of Yuffie and Vincent. "He was walking towards the Auhncore building with a smirk on his face…" Cloud frowned. "And I had a microphone from Kylie and my invasion of Bank's house…so I planted it on him."

Cloud proceeded to tell them that entire conversation he heard, about Rufus becoming President of Auhncore again, and selling out Yuffie and Vincent. By the end, everyone was plainly and simply pissed off. Tifa's eyes narrowed and rounded on Reno. "Did you know about this?" she hissed at him.

The Turks, however, also looked mad. Whether they were upset at the betrayal or the fact they hadn't known they couldn't know, but they were not happy with Rufus Shinra either. Reno shook his head, eyes flashing. "No," he snapped. "We didn't, happy Boobs?"

"Don't call me that-"

Cloud placed a hand on her shoulder. "Listen."

So they did.

He looked around their circle, at the Turks who he still was used to looking at as enemies, at his friends who were battered and beaten by the blows dealt, physical and otherwise. At Kylie, naïve yet not as innocent as she seemed; sure she was full of ideals, and had the fresh take on battle only those who had never endured it could have, yet she had stripped for money, probably worse at times. Yet they all had the same look in their eyes - determination. It was a look Cloud had often seen in their mission to save the world, a mission no one had known about until the very end, when they were turned into heroes. They had never sought it, but the world had made them heroes for a while - so they had accepted it.

Cloud's blue eyes were piercing and strong, spreading their strength to everyone else. "Yuffie spent a lot of time trying to get us out…and she succeeded. But she got caught. And Vincent came through even when all seemed lost. Now we have to do the same for them."

Everyone's eyes were locked on him as he looked around the circle, a leader to the end, willing or not.

"But we don't have months. We don't even have weeks. Chances are that they'll want a replacement for Barret, and they'll be under pressure to recapture us. We have days to get them back, and there's no way we can pull off a stunt like they did, not after this."

He looked around as the sunlight slid over his face, everyone leaning forward intent. "Everyone has to be in this 100 or not at all. Who's in?" He challenged them all with his eyes, with his gaze, his intensity.

"I am," Tifa said instantly, and put her fist in the middle.

"Me too," Barret said after only just a pause, nodding and placing his large hand over Tifa's.

"And me," Reeve said, placing his in.

"Of course," Red said.

Cid nodded and placed his hand in with a jab, like he had a score to settle. His jaw line was determined, his lips a chiseled line.

"Eh, why not?" Reno smirked. "Already deep enough in this shit, let's just dive in." He lazily put his hand in. Elena nodded as did Rude, and each put their hands in over Reno's.

Kylie locked her eyes with Cloud's. She was the only one Cloud worried about, inexperienced other than their little adventure. "This is different than anything you've done. We're probably going to do something illegal, and dangerous. This is no fun escapade or joke. Once you're in, there's no pulling out."

Kylie nodded, giving a cheerful, "You underestimate me." Then she snorted as she put her fist in. "This is ridiculously cheesy," she said wiht a hint of a smile.

That cheery attitude was exactly what he was worried about. Yuffie was the only one who could keep up the cheekiness most of the time. But she was resolute and unchangeable.

Cloud nodded and put his hand in. "AVALANCHE," He said, but the Turks glared. He sighed.

"Team Let's Do This," Kylie offered. Everyone nodded.

"Let's get to work," Cloud said, and the pile of hands broke.

--

They had all left him. They were all gone. Groaning, he could feel his life ebbing away, throb by throb as the blood left his body. The sting of that sword, diving into his flesh as it entered places where steel didn't belong, again and again. They were all gone. Even the Cetra magic had failed. He groaned and clutched his stomach, a thousand stabs to his wound again and again. They'd all left.

He heard rustling, but the world was away, the edges of his vision going black despite the gut-wrenching pain that he felt would keep him in torture forever. The world was fading away, the blackness, the nothingness, the blankness coming. He tilted his head back, breathing growing shallow, skin clammy and cold sweat beading. He heard footsteps, and a low gasp, but it was all distant, like it was in some far off world. As if it was all happening to someone else, as though he was slowly drifting away.

He felt someone near him, but he was so close to the edge, so close to fading. The pain would be over soon, he knew. He saw a blur of a person kneel down and cool fingers brushed his cheek. All he could make out was it was a female, and a shock of blonde hair. Suddenly, she was opening her pack and he shut his eyes, because he couldn't care anymore. She was prying his jaw open and putting a pill on his tongue, and tipping his head back and she was whispering and murmuring to him, something about not letting go.

But he was reaching for that nothingness, and that was the last thing he remembered before he lost consciousness.

He flickered in his sleep, feeling his wound pulse at the memory, but in that brief moment so close to consciousness, he fell back deep into the abyss of sleep.

--

She brushed out her long blonde hair and tied it up behind her, a piece of her bangs falling out. Tugging on socks, she walked over to a bed in a corner of the studio apartment. Frowning, she sat on the couch set up directly across from the bed, and looked down at the man lying on the bed.

It had been three months since she had brought him to Junon. As soon as she'd gotten the helicopter ride to get him out of Mideel, she'd flown him here to the hospital. When she'd gotten there she'd filed him under a false name and gotten him into surgery. She was not allowed to do the surgery herself, but she'd been in a surgical rotation before and was allowed to assist. By some miracle, and the stitches she'd put into him, he survived.

He'd woken up at first in the hospital. But he had a fever, and hadn't known where he was. He'd babbled, and been hopped up on painkillers. He'd gone back to sleep. When he did wake up, he was not in his right mind, but eventually he woke up to a point that she'd convinced the hospital to let her take him home. By then it had been a month.

When she'd first brought him home, he would wake up, feverish and delusional. He kept babbling about a Flower Girl, at times as though he was talking to her, warning her. Other times he seemed to be under the impression of giving instructions to people, and he kept saying 'make sure to tread on the flowers. But not too much. Don't ruin the flowers.'

But then he'd slipped back into sleep. She hadn't taken him back. It had only a few weeks, yet that was called a coma. But - as some people in a coma could do - he'd sit up straight, eyes open, but not aware, not perceiving. She knew how to take care of a person in a coma, even without a hospital.

Before she had brought him here, his wound had been terrible. At the Mideelian hospital, the stitches would bust out or simply disintegrate, and the wound would bleed more freely, worse than ever. It never seemed to close. But then she'd gotten him transported away, away to the place that had seemed to heal him; the place that had done miracles for him, The City of the Ancients. The water there, once she immersed him in it, had immediately gone to work on his wound. Before her eyes it closed up some, as if making up for the time it had missed.

Then she'd brought him to the hospital in Junon.

She sighed, and sunk down in the chair, eyes trained on the man with his hair tied back and bandages around his middle.

"Let's watch some TV," she said to him, conversationally, and twisted so she was lying down on the couch, back against the arm. She grabbed the remote and flicked on the TV.

"I hate the news," she commented to him, as though he would respond. "So depressing. But we'll watch it anyway."

The woman reporter on the TV was one of the many who had those hairstyles that never move and look so plastic, fake and not so attractive. She held up the microphone and began talking.

"This is Sharon Share from Junon News 1, bringing you the latest on the AVALANCHE case."

"Yea, did you hear about that?" she asked Him, as the man on the bed had unofficially become. "Apparently, Auhncore got a hold of Vincent Valentine and Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Rumors have been flying around, however, that in obtaining Valentine and Kisaragi, they lost the rest of AVALANCHE from their custody. Auhncore will make no comment except to deny such rumors. Back to you, George," Sharon Share reported from the TV.

The Blonde shook her head and turned from the TV to Him. "Time to change your bandages," she said airily, and put one hand behind His back, and heaved him up into a sitting position, and leaned him against the wall. She frowned as the blanket slid off. The bandage was soaked with blood, as usual. Carefully, she unwrapped it and hissed in sympathy at the wound. It was nasty, skin red, raw and peeling back. True, it had gotten better since she found him, since she'd taken him There, and kept getting better. But recently, the stitches had disintegrated, like it had back in Mideel, though the wound was shallower and smaller. But it worried her. The bleeding had, of course, gone so much down with the stitches, but since the stitches were gone the bleeding almost never slowed, and it was unnatural. Unfortunately, she couldn't ask what caused it, what caused such an unnatural wound. At times it would heal normally, but as if provoked by something invisible to the eye, it would reopen, worsen. Shaking her head, she rewrapped the bandages and slid all her pills into his mouth, tipping the water. He involuntarily swallowed - a knee-jerk reaction. She smiled.

"I wish you'd tell me why it's such a weird little wound…" she asked, frowning.

But he just lay there, silent and sleeping, trapped deep within himself, and he never said a word.

--

"Hey Vin," Yuffie said casually, looking at him upside down. She was in a bridge, arms extended past her head and feet planted on the ground, having come there from a standing position. A backbend, she said, and she lithely kicked her feet over so she was standing again.

"Yes, Yuffie?" he'd answered in a habit he'd adopted.

"I had a thought."

Tell me.

"Spare me," he said, in the drab sense of humor he'd grown into.

She made a face at him, but her face relaxed back into a pensive state. "What if we're punished prematurely?"

Vincent quirked an eyebrow.

"I mean, what if Leviathan," she looked at him, realizing he wasn't Wutain, "or Fate," she corrected, "knew that there were things we would do? And even if we didn't end up doing them, it had prevented it."

Vincent looked at her sidelong from his place by the fire pit, poking it around with his hands to ensure there were no smoldering embers.

"Like a parent who spanks their child before they do anything wrong, because they know they will, and hopes to discourage him."

"…"

"Seems kinda weird, huh? But listen: when I was like, seven, I broke both my arms and sprained my ankle."

Seeing his questioning look, she shrugged defensively. "I fell when I was climbing Dao Chao without the paths."

He shook his head.

"Anyway, I had a neon orange cast and a neon green one. They were pretty sweet. I was the coolest kid on the-" she stopped short. "But that's not the point. The point is, what if I was being punished for when I would steal your guys materia? Like a foreshadowing of the Corneo incident, only I didn't learn?"

Vincent didn't say anything.

"Hm?" she prodded.

"I think that your breaking of your bones was a result of climbing Da Chao when you shouldn't have been."

She looked surprised, but took a defensive tone and stance. "How'd you know I wasn't supposed to have been?"

"Because someone would have been there had you been climbing with permission."

She shrugged. "Maybe."

The implication hung in the air thickly.

"An advisor," Vincent responded to that implication.

She nodded. "But it's kinda weird, isn't it?" The question was rhetorical, but she looked at him for a sign of acqueise. "And do you know that when I had to make my trek across Wutai as part of my test, when I got to the end, to the very exact _spot we camped in Wutai, the _very_ spot I stole your materia, I got into a fight with a fiend."_

Vincent looked at her, waiting. Her point would come – it was certainly more dramatic than a fiend fight.

"It was a dragon."

He nodded; they weren't uncommon in Wutai.

"I beat it but…" she paused to make sure he was listening, "but he burnt me. But not all of me."

She waited, but he didn't guess, as she knew he wouldn't.

"Just my hands," she said, holding out the mentioned body parts. "Just my hands."

Vincent looked back at the fire, satisfied, and stood.

"And it was because I was trying to mug it."

It was certainly curious. "It was a coincidence, Yuffie."

"But what if it wasn't?" she challenged.

At this point he would normally stay silent, but he surprised her with a retort:

"But what if it was?" 

Vincent stirred at the memory, brought up in his sleep and stirring him to consciousness. When he opened his eyes he was groggy and the world was blurry. He blinked again and the world was cleared, slowly, but surely.

He found himself surrounded by white, a white that brought to mind not pureness, but sterility and nothingness. He was lying on a floor next to a hard looking mattress, as though he'd been thrown in here. When he moved to push himself up, he found his weeks felt weak and rubbery. His brain wasn't working well, buzzing with confusion and grogginess. He shook his head and put a hand to his temple. His eyes squinted and brow furrowed, unable to think of how he'd ended up in this place. Wherever this place was, anyway.

As he used his weak limbs to stand up, the room spun in front of him, white walls tumbling like acrobats. He stumbled, but caught himself before he fell. Shaking his head, he turned slowly. There was the small mattress in front of him, an article of clothing laid out on top of it. The buzz in his mind grew to a roar and he touched the outfit. It was a jumpsuit, light grey in color - just off in color from the sterility to make it look like a speck of dust, a blemish.

He turned around, still confused and uncertain. He saw bars on the openings to the rooms next to him, and in front of him he saw long bars. So he was in a cell. But it wasn't until he looked across from him and saw a small Wutain crumpled of the floor of the cell across from him that all his memories came back in a roar.

"Relief Shift," Vincent told the SP…"Shhh!" Yuffie held her finger to her lips and grinned at Tifa..."Time to bust out of this joint."…they hurried Reeve out the window as the elevator dinged, and both heads snapped to the opening doors…"Get out the window!" Vincent ordered Yuffie, as he shot and shot…a cloud filled the room as a SP member threw down a capsule…his senses felt clogged, stuffed, dizzy…Yuffie tried to crawl out the window, but couldn't lift her body…Vincent kept shooting, blind and weakening…Yuffie's form slumped, face against the wall and arms out the window…his vision became a tunnel as he kept firing bullets, and as his legs collapsed under him the tunnel closed.

Vincent's eyes snapped wide open, and he looked around with a new eye. He was in the very room they'd broken everyone out of, but by the emptiness of the other cells, they'd gotten away. He turned around, and recognized the garment on the bed as a prisoner's wear.

"Put it on," A voice came, and Vincent wheeled around.

In front of him was none other than Jamison Auhn, the infamous man who'd changed everything about the world they lived in. Vincent stared at him with blank eyes. Jamison met the stare with his own calm, collected one. Finally, Vincent spoke.

"I will not." he told Jamison.

"Oh, you will," Jamison said, and his lips and eyes danced with amusement, a sick pleasure. "You see, if you don't do it voluntarily, we can knock you out again and do it by force. And if it has to happen that way, who knows what might happen in the process…" he trailed off.

Vincent's lips pushed together, but finally - watched by Jamison the whole time, for humiliation's sake - he stripped out of his SP uniform, and stepped into the jumpsuit. When he turned around, Jamison smiled, a small twisted smile. "Much better."

But Vincent didn't look at him, instead, he looked over the man's shoulder at the still unmoving figure of Yuffie. Jamison caught the direction of his stare and stepped in front of Vincent's view. "Don't you worry about Miss Kisaragi over there. We'll take care of her."

Vincent frowned, and glared coldly at the man in his crisp suit. "You won't hurt her," Vincent said, and Jamison apparently knew what he meant.

"Well of course there is some conflict. Her being what she is in Wutai poses some problems, as the last thing we need is a full blown war, but I'm sure we'll work around that." He smiled again, and Vincent wanted to punch him. "But as for you…well, no one cares about you."

Vincent said nothing, did not even meet his eyes. Turks had been trained in counter-interrogation, how to ignore the tactics and give nothing away. Instead, he started tapping on the wall, an irregular rhythm - one such technique to throw off interrogators.

Jamison tried to catch his eye again, but found he couldn't. So he stood up straight and smiled. "I'll be seeing you again shortly Mr. Valentine. And do pass on the message about the outfit to your dear friend over there…I hate to give a speech twice."

With that he left the room and a guard entered and made Vincent hand over his clothes, leaving Vincent with nothing to do but stare at the small Wutain across the room, and wait for her to wake.

--

The past three months had kept Reno busy. So busy he could pretend he didn't have time to watch the videotapes. But there had been the empty times when he'd been all alone with a glass of scotch and a VCR, and maybe once in a while he'd pop it in and watch a second, maybe two. But tonight was the echo of so many nights before over these past three months.

He sat in the dark of his apartment, in his living room with a beer in his hand. The only light was the glow that played from the TV, flickering over his chest and face, casting his face into harsh shadows. His face was stony as he stared at the image frozen on the television, frozen in time. The image was the same he'd stared at every night, a blonde teenage girl who'd just uttered his name, staring resolutely at the camera. The hints of a smile played around the corners of her lips, and her blue eyes were the pale color of ice but with a fire burning underneath.

He stared at it and occasionally downed some of the alcohol in his glass. He looked at the screen, frowning as he ran fingers through his messy red hair. He sat there for a while before he shook his head. "You know Rude," he said to the man who had walked in about five minutes ago, standing in the back corner as the lights flickered over his stoic figure. Reno sighed and shrugged, never looking away from the blonde. But despite the words he said next, there was more anger in his face than anything else. "There's always one that got away."

Rude said nothing but stood in the back corner, silent.

"But for once, it wasn't my fucking fault." Reno shook his head, downed the rest of his beer and ejected the tape, and paused. He seemed to consider something, and his mouth opened, but lost his resolve and placed the tape in the bag of things he'd taken with him. He even chuckled to himself. To think this was his payment of the job the Princess had hired him for was almost laughable now. She'd won in every way, making him pay in misery and bitterness while he did her work. "Alright," he said to Rude. "Let's go."

Rude nodded, but never said a word.

--

Rude and Reno returned to the warehouse as the sun was setting. They were mildly disguised, as they were not blind to the soldiers in the streets, some merely patrolling while others ran down streets and burst into houses. When they walked in, the group was seated in a circle, but there was something different about the group. Reno raised an eyebrow, trying to pinpoint it. Not only was the energy more charged, everyone seeming more, well, alive but there was a stronger more confident air about them. Rude was the one who nudged Reno in the side and pointed out the catalyst of the change - their clothes.

The prison garments were thrown haphazardly on the ground, crumpled and forlorn. All of the prisoners had changed from their prison garments to a different set. They weren't their usual outfits; rather, they were clothes that - by the pried open crates - they'd gotten from the warehouse. The change of clothes, however simple, had sparked a change that was significant to even feel - it made them from prisoners to heroes again.

Barret was looking at the door, and was raising his arm before he realized two things - one, it was only Rude and Reno, and two, his gun arm was now just a stump. The gun part had been removed and confiscated, and Reno realized something very important as he looked around. Tifa's hands were bare, her knuckles bloodied and bruised. Cid's spear was usually close in reach, but was nowhere in sight. Reeve's gun holster was empty. They were without weapons, and even with the change of clothes, they might of well have been naked.

The only exception to this was Cloud, whose overlarge sword was by him like he couldn't live without it.

"What're we talkin' bout?" Reno asked as he sauntered cockily towards them.

Tifa looked up. "We're trying to figure out how to get them free," she sighed, "but no luck."

Cid scowled. "We need some leverage, and we don't have it."

"There you go again, talkin' 'bout yer leverage," Barret growled. "There ain't nothing we can do about it if we don't got it!"

Rude and Reno hung back as the group burst into argument again. Cid and Barret cussed back and forth, Reeve attempted a calm discussion but was losing his patience, Red shook his head as Tifa tried to mediate. Cloud just sat, stoic and silent.

Reno looked at Rude, almost chuckling as the group argued and fought. Cloud looked around, and sighed, finally getting fed up with the group's argument. "Hey," Cloud spoke up, though no one heard. "HEY!" he shouted.

Everyone looked over at him, silenced. Satisfied he had their attention, he passed fatal error eyes over them all. "Arguing will get us nowhere," he stated. "We say we need leverage, and I agree."

Cid looked over at Barret cockily, about to open his mouth, but Cloud's gaze made him shut his lips.

"But the only way we're going to get it is by finding out everything we can about Rufus Shinra. We need to go over everything we know about him with a fine toothed comb," Cloud said. "Everything we know, and we need to discover what we don't."

With that statement, eyes slowly shifted to the Turks, who both immediately shifted. Tattling on the boss was against everything they'd ever been trained to do, everything they'd ever done.

"But," Cloud restarted, capturing their attention, "luckily we have something else to use."

With the last statement he pulled out a flash drive, and everything looked in awe. He looked at Reno. "We're going to need a computer," he said through his smile.

--

**A/N: **Oh no. Ohh no, everyone run for cover, its another character who isn't canon. ahmagawd. And she's connected to Shinra. Total Mary Sue alert.

Well, actually, yeah, there's a new character. But I am really concious of not making her a Sue, since there are already two OCs. So don't hate her yet, alright? And that goes doubly for me.

Soo basically in this chapter the Yuffs and Vin have been captured, but they are breaking them out. But what does Cloud have planned, hmm?

Andd who do you all think Mr. Sleepy Head is? I'm betting someone will guess, and if not, than boo on you. Well, the quote is basically just a general reference to this chatper and the story as a whole so far too. So yay. And I wanted to call this chapter 'V for Victory, Index Finger Down.' Ahhh I love it. It's basically just to say that AVALANCHE is officially fighting back against Auhncore, as though giving them a V for Victory sign with the index finger down. If you think, you can figure it out.

So thanks to all my reviewers, love you muchly, and keep reviewing! :)


	23. Corruption, Prisoners, Kidnapping Oh My

**Chapter 22**

Corruption, Prisoners, Kidnapping, (Oh My)

_"Perhaps on the rare occasion pursuing the right course demands an act of piracy, piracy itself can be the right course."_

Vincent had sat down on the floor, and was leaning back against the bed when he was starting to fall asleep. As soon as his eyes drifted shut, however, there was a stir of movement. His eyes snapped open as the figure across the way from him stirred. Her arm was the first to move, just a twitch. Then, as she slowly woke from her drugged sleep (the amount of sleeping chemical used on her body type had resulted in her sleeping longer; they had used a dose needed for a man of his size), her back flexed and stretched, and the muscles in her legs clenched and unclenched. Finally her head lifted ever so slightly, as though it was a heavy weight on her neck. Her hair fell into her face limply, falling into her eyes and making a veil for her grey eyes to peer out of.

He could see her face, and it was confused looking, muddled. He must have looked the same when he first woke, lost and alone. She was in the same sprawled position she'd slept in, not moving yet. She was belly down on the floor, face flat against it and her arms lying limply and bent above her head. Now she looked up, confused, before she tried to pull herself into a sitting position. Her muscles failed her and she fell flat again, and was lying there for a few moments before trying again.

This time she managed a sitting position, her hair still wild and in her face. Her brow knit as she looked at her surroundings, and then looked straight across at Vincent.

Her eyes widened.

There was a dawning on her face of realization, of horror, of fear. She brushed her hair out of her face, and she was revealing more emotion than she would have without the drugs. Yuffie was panicked and afraid, and the feeble way she sat with her legs bent on the floor in front of her, her arms limp at her sides and her head tilted ever so slightly to make a truly pathetic picture.

"Vincent?" she said meekly, and tried to stand. Her legs tried to fail but she determinedly stood, and took heavy, drugged steps to the bars. Once at the cell bars she clung to them, face looking out from beyond it at Vincent. "What...what are we going to do?"

Vincent shook his head, feeling defeated in these washed out prison garbs. He felt hopeless and full of despair, and the look she gave him didn't help.

"We have to get out," she said urgently, and tried to rattle the cage.

Vincent said nothing, and stopped looking at her, head dropping to the right. "You have to put on the clothes, Yuffie," he said quietly.

Her eyes bugged at him. Even in her semi-drugged state, she was mad. "Vincent! What's with you?"

"Just put them on, Yuffie," he said in that same unreadable, flat - yet soft - tone.

"You should listen to him," a voice came, and this time it was not Jamison but familiar tones. "He is smart."

Both prisoners' heads whipped to the right, and in walked Rufus Shinra with Jamison Auhn. Rufus's suit was freshly pressed and he walked with a cane that seemed more for show than for actual usage. The cane was white with a silver metal top, in the shape of the Shinra crest. Jamison had a self-satisfied smirk on his face, looking at the prisoners.

Yuffie saw Rufus and her eyes widened, taking a bit longer for her drug muddled mind to comprehend. "You…you…"

"Yes, yes, me, me," Rufus sighed with his lips quirked upwards.

"You betrayed us…you betrayed me," Yuffie accused slowly, breathlessly.

Rufus shrugged and with an uncaring air said, "Yes, I'm afraid so. You see, revenge wasn't quite what I was seeking. Well, not completely."

Yuffie glared, and Vincent remained silent, unsure of what Rufus's role had been in the play of events. Obviously he was still alive and Yuffie knew so, no doubt because of the Turks. But he still wanted to reach through the bars and demand that the man let them out. Yet he just watched Yuffie's angry face and Rufus's smug one.

"I actually wanted to seize control again, and when you tumbled onto my lap..." Rufus trailed off, leaving the rest to implication.

"You planned it since the beginning," she growled, straining at the bars. "You planned it…" Then her face snapped into a suspicious look. "The Turks-"

"I'm afraid I have to cut you off there. You see, the Turks have no idea about the plan. I couldn't quite clue them in, you see, because it was crucial they did not know. If they knew there would be far too high of a risk of you finding out, and I couldn't take that chance. The Turks have lost their edge slightly, anyway. It will do them well to be angry at someone," Rufus drawled, bored sounding.

Yuffie glared and walked over to her bed to pick up the garment. Looking back at the Presidents, they smiled at her and she walked to the bars. Vincent watched her and hoped she wouldn't be foolish, but she was Yuffie. So she smiled sweet and reached to her shirt; a skin-tight, black, sleeveless turtleneck. But she did not take it off but rather she pulled down the collar to reveal her neck. At first Vincent wasn't sure what she was doing, but she traced a line on her neck.

At first glance it would seem like a normal line one the neck but closer inspection revealed the spot to be irregularly spaced and instead of a skin line, there was a line of scar tissue. She stared at Rufus whose eyes widened at the view of it, and she threw the garment outside the bars at the two men and spat at them. "I haven't forgotten, dear Rufus."

But thought at first he seemed awestruck, it slowly turned into a wicked grin as he cast a sidelong glance at Vincent. Then he looked back at Yuffie. "Ah, dear Princess, neither have I," he smirked wickedly. "Neither have I."

* * *

As usual, the blonde girl plopped down on the couch, and - as usual - looked at the sleeping man. She frowned, and as usual she reached for the remote and said with a upbeat tone, "Let's watch the news."

As she reached for the remote, which was by his side, she hesitated.

He twitched.

Watching him, she stayed frozen until she was sure he wasn't moving. Then she inched her hand forward to take the remote.

A hand snapped up and grabbed hers.

His eyes opened in a fluid motion, no yawning or blinking. He then sat straight up, but only got halfway before he winced and recoiled for his wound, with new stitches and bandages started bleeding again. It must of hurt, but she knew the pain was probably mild. She had him on painkillers that while, ridiculously expensive, were worth the price.

He looked over, and his hand flew to his hips, where his gun had previously resided. His mouth pursed to form a 'W,' sound, but nothing came out. He looked puzzled by his lazy and frozen tongue, even…even scared. She frowned. Scared didn't suit him.

"You were in a coma. You may need to relearn how to talk like you used to. Let your muscles get used to movement again."

He made a faint sound, which she only just heard. "B…uh…buh…" he said, and she tilted her head to listen better, because she thought he was trying to say 'but' because he couldn't be trying to say her name.

"I'm Bee," she met his eyes and smiled. "I'm going to help you."

He eyed her with suspicion, because she knew he recognized her. She certainly had recognized him when she saw him, and she didn't know if she was just refusing to use his name or couldn't remember. But then, deep down, she knew it was the former.

And he looked so lost, confused and helpless, vulnerable like he was trained never to be. So she frowned, because she didn't like it, and she opened the night-stand drawer. Pulling out the object she wanted, she handed it to him.

He took his gun without hesitation, and with it in his hand, he didn't look so lost anymore. Because he'd remembered what he was, why he was here.

The gun reminded him that he was Turk.

He checked the magazine and nodded, reloading it.

With a gun in his hand, he was a Turk again.

With a gun in his hand, he was Tseng again.

* * *

"Here it is," Cloud announced.

Everyone stirred to huddle around the swordsman. After they'd moved camp (Shinra was searching everywhere for the escapees) to the Train Graveyard. When they'd gotten settled in a hard-to find boxcar nestled between the remains of several trains, the next couple hours had been spent first uploading the flash drives to one external, small and portable hard drive, and then searching the hard drive.

They had taken shifts, and now it was Cloud's turn to dig through the maze of files and information until they found what they needed - the profile of Rufus Shinra. At first Reno had been doubtful that they would record information on their very own ruler, but Elena had stepped in as their resident computer expert. She claimed that a file on the ruler was necessary, and Kim would take it upon herself if no one else had. A file on the ruler allowed them to keep succession lines clear and be able to know who was in charge of what.

So now they opened the file for Rufus Shinra, and everyone huddled around the computer.

"Name, Rufus Ryker Shinra," Cloud read. "Sex, Male."

They continued to read until they reached the biography, which Cloud scanned and pulled key parts out of. But as they went through, Cloud stopped and sighed. He looked over it once more, and shook his head. Looking at the group, who turned their attention to him for a plan, for some leadership, they found themselves disappointed by his expression. "I don't think I see anything we can use," he admitted, to a falling of faces.

"Ugh!" Tifa, sitting on the floor, punched her fist to the ground by her side in frustration. "But we can't give up! There has to be something," she pleaded.

"Actually," a voice came, and they looked up at Rude. The man was standing behind the group, and looked down at Cloud and continued, "there is."

With a nod from Cloud he walked over to the computer and leaned over as the group huddled for a view. He scrolled up to the top, and stopped at the beginning information. The group looked at him, having already gone over this. "What?" Cid asked gruffly.

"I don't see nothing," Barret growled.

Calmly, Rude looked at them. Then he turned back to the computer. "You can see here Rufus's immediate family," he said. Cloud nodded.

"A deceased mother and a deceased father," he said. "What's the point?"

Rude did not let the others skepticism faze him. Rather, he clicked on the word family and it linked him to another page, where it gave a short family bio and pictures of the birth announcements and newspaper articles. Clicking to a short bio, he began to read.

"Rufus Shinra was the oldest child of President Shinra and his wife Rachelle Shinra," Rude started to read. He continued through the information of his date of birth and early years. Finally, his voice rose and everyone could tell this was the information they were waiting for. "President Shinra and Rachelle had another child when Rufus was aged 5, a girl named Brooke Rachel Shinra."

Rude then scrolled down further, where a picture next to the bio showed a picture of two blonde children. One was five years old, the girl, and the other must have been around 12. The little girl beamed and Rufus looked glum, yet at the camera. Another picture directly below it showed a teenage girl with an arm around her shoulder belonging to a 20 something year old. Both were blonde and had the same blue eyes, the color of ice. Rude read the caption. "Brooke and Rufus Shinra, aged 5, 12 above, aged 16 and 23 below."

Before they could ask where this was going, Rude clicked on the bio of Brooke Shinra. When he brought up her short biography, there was not much. It mentioned Brooke was the daughter of the President and Rachelle, and described her position in the family and company shortly. The bio was only two paragraphs. Rude read the second paragraph out-loud.

"Brooke Shinra ran away from home when she turned 17. Her location is known and she is watched by the Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department. Brooke never returned home but remained in President Shinra's will."

Everyone turned to Rude, and some of them had understanding on their faces. Reno looked annoyed, on the other hand. "'Being watched by the Investigation Sector of the General Affairs Department?'" Reno quoted angrily. "I don't recall watching her."

Rude turned to him calmly. "You wouldn't," Rude said, "because I did."

Reno opened his mouth but pressed it shut again, a firm white line.

Rude turned to the group, and his sunglasses stared at them blankly, impossible to read his face. "We could perform a kidnapping," Rude said coolly. Their looks prompted, and he adjusted his sunglasses. His expression was as unreadable as usual, but there seemed to be a downwards tug on his lips.

"She is the daughter of the late President Shinra," Rude said, looking around. "As we read, she was not removed from the will."

"Yea?" Reno said harshly, acting strange. "So? Why would Rufus care about some girl who ran away when he was what, 24, and never came back?"

The others looked at Rude and Tifa shrugged. "I mean," she said softly, "he's right. Why would he give up Yuffie and Vincent for her?"

Rude gave Reno a look from beyond the glasses but Reno met his eyes stubbornly. "I happened to be present at an arranging of the will," Rude said and nodded to Elena. She got the signal and sat at the computer, typing in something rapidly. "The President, his lawyer and a witness needed to be there. The President needed to be assured not only that he had protection with him at all times, but the witnesses would remain silent. Tseng and I were there as bodyguards and witnesses."

Reno and Elena raised their eyebrows and everyone else nodded, waiting for him to continue. Rude did not rush but looked at Elena, who gave thumbs up. "I do not remember everything about the will," Rude continued, "such as inheritance of property and other such things but one thing I do remember because it would one day affect me."

The group was now hanging onto his words, waiting for the part that would free their friends.

"Though Rufus Shinra was Vice President and was to be the President, the company would not be his alone," Rude told them. "President Shinra had two children - the company, and any other company owned or created by Shinra was to be split evenly between them. Rufus Shinra, while running things, would own half but his sister would own the other half. Brooke Shinra never stepped forward to claim her half, though it still legally belonged to her."

"Yes but, ShinRa Company's gone now," Tifa said, brow furrowed.

Rude nodded towards Elena.

"What is little known about Auhncore Corporation," Elena said as she moved aside to show them the document, "is that it is not created as a sub-company of ShinRa."

The document they looked at made their eyes widen as they read the description of the ShinRa Electric Company.

"But in fact, another name for and the reinvention of ShinRa Company, as contracted by Rufus ShinRa."

Indeed the document was a description of the Auhncore Corporation, and they read the words, 'Auhncore, formerly known as ShinRa Electric…' they looked up at Rude.

"So if Auhncore literally is ShinRa," Kylie said, looking up at her brother, "that means Rufus doesn't own it all."

Rude nodded.

"So if we kidnap Brooke," Tifa picked up, understanding, "we control half of Auhncore."

"If we kidnap Brooke," Cloud finished determinedly, "we get our friends back."

* * *

And so it was the plan. The group had immediately started working on a plan, a way to get a hold of Brooke. They had battled out of Rude not only information on her life and whereabouts, but the fact that the Turk was in fact personal friends with the girl. She lived in Junon and the last he knew of her she was working in a hospital and living in a studio apartment.

The group had set out but for one, Kylie, who'd been persuaded to stay behind and be their correspondent in Midgar to keep them alerted. She'd been reluctant, but when Cloud had asked her and made it clear he wasn't just shoving her aside, that he needed her there, she had agreed. The group was lessened but not enough to travel through Midgar without a check, so they'd entered the sewer system. Cloud had assumed leadership once there.

"We'll split up into groups," he'd said and looked around. "We're too big to travel there together, but we'll all meet in lower Junon on the beach. Clear?"

Everyone had nodded. The next part didn't go over nearly as well, as Cloud had picked the groups.

"Alright, Cid, Barret and Elena will be one group," Cloud said and the Turks heads had immediately whipped towards them. Cloud had ignored it and continued. "Reeve, Red and Rude another, and Tifa, me and Reno the third."

Reno had sent him a glare before letting it melt into a smirk. "Don't trust us still, huh Chocobo-Boy?"

Cloud had winced at the nickname. When first meeting up, he'd made it clear that he hadn't been fond of working with the Turks. Cloud had met his look with calm eyes. The two men exchanged something between them, something that was a mutual dislike and mistrust. "You know what they say Reno," he'd said quietly, "keep your friends close, but your enemies closer."

There had then been an uncomfortable silence that settled over the group, before Cid had cleared his throat. Cloud took the signal. "Alright. We leave the sewer at different places and all meet up at the beach," Cloud had said, ignoring the Turk. "Move out."

* * *

And that had brought them here. It had taken them three days to meet in Junon, and they were in upper Junon now.

The plan was in motion.

Rude was sitting at The Cow, a diner-like restaurant that was famous for its dairy products, from their ice-cream to the milk that made the eggs so fluffy. Rude sat in a booth, waiting for Brooke to meet him there. Rude looked around at the civilians, and the people he knew were not.

A man sat at the counter on a stool. He had a small beard and mustache, with black hair pulled into a ponytail. Glasses sat on his nose and a blue-tooth wireless phone on his ear, combing with the suit to give an impression of businessman. The man spun his seat so he was facing sideways, and his eyes looked at Rude sidelong and a small smile tugged at his lip.

Rude's eyes slid over to a girl who sat at one of the tables that were high with high chairs, as he could see by facing straight in his seat. Even over someone's shoulder, if necessary. She was a mess, only Rude knowing intentionally so. She looked like the product of a rough night, because the up-do was falling out and messy, only the remains of a nice hairdo, and her eyes were circled by smudged black. Her lips bore the traces of lipstick having been wiped off, the worn red trailing off the corner of her mouth as though wiped off. The down-and-out-of-luck figure was not an unusual one in Junon or the diner, and blended in. She looked up at Rude and gave the slightest nod, her chocolate eyes twinkling at him.

Rude looked out towards the door, or so it seemed, for looking behind him in a booth near the door was a man with a toothpick in his mouth. The man, who actually looked young, had a mess of brown hair that fell over his forehead, and he was dressed in a jumpsuit that looked like the ones ShinRa's airforce crew used to wear. He man looked up and narrowed his eyes at Rude, before looking down at his plate of pancakes.

Rude turned around again and looked at his watch. The minute hand it the 12, marking the time as 1 o'clock.

The door opened.

* * *

Brooke Shinra was a well kept secret. She'd left home when she was a teenager, and the Shinra family managed to keep it under wrap, a new announcement about a Mako Reactor masking her disappearance, and anyone who asked was told she was sent off to the exclusive Richman Preparatory School up on the Northern Continent. But though she'd managed to escape her family, she still existed, and there were those who knew her and who she was. She had people in Shinra she'd befriended that she still kept in touch with as well. So after Rude had called her, it came as no surprise when she came strolling in, alone, though there'd been a fear of her not showing. Her pale blue eyes were just like her brother's in their ice-like color, though not as cold as his. She walked over, and slid into the booth across from him. Her bangs were clipped to the side, and a pair of sunglasses was perched on her head. She picked up the menu and looked over the contents, though he already knew what she was getting. A burger with lettuce, onions and ketchup, French fries and mozzarella sticks.

Flicking bright blonde hair off the side of her face, she smiled at Rude. She was going to wait him out, as hard as it was for her to wait in the silence. But she knew Rude, and she had to force him to talk first, but not bug him.

"It's been a while," he said.

She smiled brightly. "Too long. What's new?"

Rude shrugged. "New apartment. Mini-penthouse."

She looked at him shrewdly. "All by yourself?" she asked with a grin spreading across her face.

"…E lives with me. We share the rent." Even when she was a daughter to a higher-up in Shin-Ra, they decided it was best for everyone's safety to not know the real names of his fellow Turks. He told her about T, his boss and R his mission partner, keeping her entertained with his stories. He talked more around her, though he wasn't sure why. But then he had introduced E, Elena, and she had gotten that glint in her eye and teased him about possibly getting a girlfriend.

She raised her eyebrows and made a suggestive face.

"We are friends, Bee."

"Right, Rude," she said and winked. "And R?"

"He lives on his own."

She nodded as the waitress brought them sodas. She sipped out of the straw.

Rude had never described his fellow Turks physically – he didn't see them that way. He didn't see people that way. When describing a person, off-duty of course (in a mission looks are important), he always talked about their personalities. Brooke - or Bee, as she was always called - didn't know that R was redheaded and aquamarine eyed, or that E was blonde and fair skinned. She knew Tseng's name and appearance, somehow, probably from her father having seen him. But only the head Turk had to report, usually. She probably had been friends with Tseng too. Who knew. She was easy to get along with.

"Well you missed excitement," she said as the waitress took their orders. "I was in Mideel. I got to ride a helicopter." She waggled her eyebrows as though this was enticing and exciting.

Rude almost imperceptibly snapped to attention, a little straighter sitting and head turned at a careful angle, still like the dog when it smelled its prey.

She caught this, and narrowed her eyes at him. "Why the weird look?"

Rude inspected her from behind the sunglasses. Bee was no idiot. Rude was rarely so obvious about being put on alert, but something about her sentence through him off guard. Maybe the careful omission of why she'd been there, using a distracter of a helicopter to prevent him from asking.

And in his mind, a flash of the memory of being in the morgue with Yuffie and Reno, of the roar of the helicopter lifting away masking the knocking out of the intern. He remembered being thankful that the helicopter was there, to hide their presence and any abnormalities.

Somehow he knew it was the same helicopter she was referring to, and that one question itched at his mind: Why?

The food came.

Rude didn't have nervous ticks. Or any ticks, period. That fact was what made Rude such a good poker player. Even if he ever had, that would have been beaten out in Turk training. But Rude was never a man to fidget or bite nails or straighten his clothes. He looked up at Brooke, at the same time straightening a perfectly in-place tie. This is why she looked at him suspiciously, for his tie was perfectly straight and – as previously stated – he had no nervous ticks. "Forgive me," he said shortly.

Her brow furrowed but she only half got out the word, "What?" before the door slammed open. She turned and was startled to see three figures with ski masks, black clothes and guns.

"Everyone down!" one yelled. People shrieked, and the more petite one of the three held her gun expertly.

"Shut up!" the petite robber ordered harshly.

The third had a peek of green hair sticking out from beneath his ski mask, and a bandage over one eye, seen through the eyehole. Rude applauded Strife – all the people would remember was a green-haired man with a hurt eye. Strife scoped the restaurant. Most had hit the floor or ducked behind tables and counters. But as Bee made to move, Rude grabbed her hand where it was resting on the table with super speed. She looked at him in alarm as his grip tightened. She tried to pull out, and he didn't want to make his grip bone-crushing. "Rude!" she said.

"You!" Strife roared in a voice not his own. "We said shut up!"

He walked over to Brooke, and a smirk curled onto his lips, seen through the hole. "Well ain't you a pretty little thing," he said. He grabbed her wrist and Brooke looked desperately at Rude, who only let go of the other wrist. He thought he saw bruising. The other man shoved his gun into Brooke's back, and people gasped. Reno went to the register, his hair under a grey wig. "Give me your money," he demanded, jabbing his gun at the cashier. The cashier quickly hurried to put the money in the bag, and Strife roughly took Bee by the arms.

She would not cry out, but she looked over at him, thoroughly confused and feeling betrayed. Rude could - to her knowledge - have these three normal robbers down in a second, and would never surrender her. She was staring at him, those ice blue eyes more piercing than he'd ever seen. More accusing, more cold and hurt than he was accustomed to. And in that moment, in that look, Rude's mind jumbled and he could have sworn he was staring at her brother.

Rude felt his betrayal gripping his heart. Elena grabbed Brooke's other arm. Strife kept the gun jabbed into her back. "Two for one deal," Strife said with a sneer. He wasn't half bad at acting.

As everyone's attention was turned to the three, Rude had managed to slip into the back (one would wonder how such a large man could move so silently and smoothly). All at once, the power went out. Rude slipped back out with a ski mask on and went to where he heard his three friends, and put on hand over Bee's mouth, though she made no sound. "Sorry," he said shortly, and proceeded to take his gun and knock the handle over her head. She crumpled. Rude took her up in arms, and the four slipped out the back.

When the cops came and the power flipped back on, they found the oddest thing.

The bag of money was resting on the counter.

Now, the cops would dismiss this as dumb crime, an adrenaline trip, but later the store owner would find something odd. After the police cleared everything for bombs, drugs, anything else, the owner found a note, pinned on the inside in the bottom. With disbelief the owner would pick it up and read:

_Sorry for the trouble, yo._

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry that took so long! And not the longest chapter, but its something.

And theres another OC. I'm sure someone will hate me for it, but oh well. It, or she, isn't unecessary, just for my fun, it is a needed OC. But I'm sure someone won't like her just the same. Otherwise, weo have two prisoners, a kidnapping, and a plan to break them out. Exciting, but even more so is that finally, in about one more chapter, everyone will be free! If you think the story has gone no where, just a bunch of kidnappings, you're wrong, but now we can get away from being imprisoned all the time and do something.

Title pretty self explanatory, modeled after the beloved quote from the Wiz of Oz, and the quote is from Pirates of the Caribbean, a movie I love! and that's pretty self explanatory as well, but of course is applied against piracy to crime in general in this fic.

Thanks to all who reviewed!


	24. Masks

**Chapter 23**

Masks

_"We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others, that we risk become disguised to ourselves"_

"This is dangerous shit," a male voice met her ears, strangely familiar.

"I know," a worried female voice came.

"She's awake," a voice came, abruptly, and Brooke recognized it as Rude.

Rude. What an asshole. Turks cannot be trusted, her daddy used to say. But she hadn't listened. And look where that had landed her; tied up with a bag over her head and a gag in her mouth. She heard the soft padding of footsteps and a soft drip of water. The bag was pulled off over her head.

There were people around her, and she recognized a few. Three were from the store, though they had swapped the all black attire for more comfortable clothing. The masks were off, but their builds tipped them off. They all had their backs to her, but her head turned and Rude was standing there, stoically, watching her. Next to him was a girl who had her back to Brooke, but she had long dark hair and strong, but not bulky, arms. She turned, and Bee couldn't help but let her eyes widen.

It was Tifa Lockheart.

"There are no secrets now," Rude said.

The three with the ski masks turned around. One's hair was blonde, and she was the petite one from the store, though her grip on that gun looked mean. The other one was obviously the green haired man, but now his eyes were Mako blue and his hair was a bright, chocobo blonde. She couldn't stop her disbelief.

This was _The_ Cloud Strife.

But despite her shock at the fallen heroes, it was nothing compared to what she saw next. He did not look happy, and the grey wig was in a crestfallen heap against the wall, as though he had to be wrestled out of it. His hair was bright, phoenix red and his eyes glowed slightly, aquamarine. He was tall and he had two scars underneath each of his eyes, and he was quite pointedly not looking at her.

"Reno," she said blankly, eyes piercing.

Rude's head whipped around. "You know Reno?" he asked in a clipped way.

Then it dawned on her. She thought of the descriptions of R's lazy and sometimes wacky behavior, yet often quite the badass, and the antics he had gotten into and his whole personality. She thought of the stories, and how he had come from the slums, and was tied for the youngest Turk ever. She didn't know what she hadn't seen it before.

R was for Reno.

And S was for shit. Deep shit.

"Yes," Bee said, drawing out the word and looking at Reno.

"Let's hurry this shit up." Reno said crossly. "Listen, Shinra,"

Her lips pursed.

"Your brother did some messed up shit. And now he has some things, or some ones that was want."

She didn't say a word.

Tifa and Cloud exchanged a look. Suddenly, Cloud's huge sword was rising, and Brooke braced herself for a bloody end. Then, it came down, but surprisingly, he had enough accuracy to not hit her hands, but slice through the ropes. She shook her hands free, looking surprised. Tifa's face moved in close.

"We don't want to hurt you," she said softly, burgundy eyes full of despair and sorry and worry. "We just want our friends back."

When face to face with Tifa Lockheart, you couldn't help but feel pain, feel the sorrow and feel the understanding that was welled up in her. It was hard to hate her, face to face, because she was lovely and honest and understanding. And when she told you she didn't want to hurt you, there were no 'buts' - she meant it.

"We didn't want it to come to this," Cloud said, looking grim. "Now we actually are criminals. Now your brother has yet another reason to want us dead."

Bee rubbed her wrists and stood. Everyone moved to their weapons. She shook her head. "Listen, I've heard the news. I've heard what they've said about who you are, about what you've done," she said, but looked at them with a shrug. "But I also know how easily my family manipulates things. I don't know why my brother would want me back, but if it helps…I'll happily be your prisoner."

The criminals exchanged a look and Tifa grinned brightly.

"Welcome to the team, jailbird."

* * *

Yuffie had changed. She admittedly had changed her clothes, though she waited until Vincent was asleep. She didn't want to have anyone see she had given in, to hide her shame. But they would have forcibly done it, and she didn't want that alternative.

It had been a week since the Great Escape, as Yuffie was calling it. Day One had been when they had first awoken, and Yuffie had changed on Day Two. Now, five days later, they earned another visit from Mr. Jamison, and Yuffie as not pleased. He walked in and looked at Vincent's sleeping form and looked back at Yuffie, who glared at him. "Good," he said in reference to Vincent's sleeping. "It was you I wished to speak with anyway."

Yuffie was silent, before bursting out, "What do you want?"

He gave an empty chuckle. "You have become quite a pain in our ass, Miss Kisaragi, did you know that?"

Yuffie said nothing.

"You see," Jamison started to explain, pacing by her cell, "with your friends, your fellow 'heroes' if you wish to call them that, it was easy enough to turn everyone against them. Most of you have dark secrets in your past, and everyone had something that could be twisted against them. Even a fear of what's," he glanced at Yuffie's slightly slanted eyes, "different was enough to suffice. But you..." he trailed off.

"All of your friends, for the most part, are alone in the world. Mr. Strife, Ms. Lockheart, Red XIII, Mr. Tuesti, Mr. Valentine are all without family, without spouse, without children. Mr. Wallace has a child, too young to understand and Mr. Highwind had a wife who is too quiet to make a ruckus." Jamison looked at her through the bars with an air of looking at an interesting exhibit.

"…But you, Miss Kisaragi, when we attacked you we had no clue what we were dealing with. By merely accusing you of the crime that you well know of, we have earned the hate and provocation of an entire nation. By putting out the warrant for your arrest, we have found a country against us. And now, by arresting you, we fear of what will happen." Jamison stopped and looked her in the eye. "We cannot touch you, Miss Kisaragi, while you are here. We cannot harm a fingernail on your body while you are in our care, despite the treatment your friends received. The moment we hurt you, the moment we try to do anything beyond hold you in this cell, Wutai will declare war on us."

Yuffie said nothing, but there was a pride in her eyes.

"As the only heir to the throne and - to many - the reason for Wutai's re-entry into their former glory, if we were to try to execute you we would not only cause a nation to crumble, but have that nation take us down with it. You have diplomatic immunity, I'm afraid, but that won't stop us from holding you."

Yuffie glared at him. Her neck was well exposed by the jumpsuit and her hand went to it.

"A new face and a new name doesn't make you anything different from ShinRa, Mr. Auhn, and my country knows that well. We haven't forgotten the last war, Mr. Auhn, and we certainly haven't forgotten how it was won."

Mr. Auhn chuckled. "We beat you in both the fields of combat and trickery, which is strange in a land of ninjas."

"You used a dishonorable method to force my father to surrender or be the cause of his country's collapse," Yuffie said, using words she'd long been wanting to say.

Mr. Auhn gave a sleazy smile that made her skin crawl, and looked over at the sleeping man. "Yes, yes, so what I don't understand is why you forgave that 'dishonorable method' himself, yet still hold your grudge?"

Yuffie stared at him stonily. "Because puppets are only dangerous when wielded by a hand," she said quietly.

Mr. Auhn chuckled and walked away, shoes clacking on the tile, leaving Yuffie staring at Vincent and tracing the line on her neck.

* * *

In another place within the Auhncore building, Kylie 'Randall' - her new last name - had gotten a job. She was working as a secretary at the front desk, the former girl getting a promotion to a secretary for a higher-up. Working the front-desk needed a good resume still, as she was one of the first people in the building every morning. Thus, Kylie started her first day by getting there good and early.

Thus, Kylie was there when President Shinra came in. He looked surprised to see her, but then she saw his eyes slide over her form and face. Kylie, for the disguise, had sheared off her long hair to just above her shoulders. She touched it sadly, but she did like the cut, even if her hair only just brushed her shoulders now.

The President Shinra was wearing a hooded jacket, as he was not supposed to exist. She nodded to him slightly, meeting his eyes. Everyone had been informed of the new co-President. "Mr. President," she murmured.

He looked at her with ice blue eyes. "You are the new secretary?" he asked and she nodded demurely.

"Good," he said, and handed her an envelope. "See to it that this is transported to the Information Branch."

She nodded her head down in almost a little bow, as she had seen the secretaries here do, almost as if the Presidents were monarchs. He nodded, and even as he walked on she felt his eyes on her, and she smiled. Maybe this wouldn't be as hard as she thought, after all.

Later that day, there was a buzz on Mr. Auhn's intercom. President Rufus was also in the room and they both looked at the intercom. Jamison pressed it and said, "Yes?"

"Mr. Auhn two members from the SP are here with a receptionist and they say it is urgent."

"Send them in," Mr. Auhn responded, and the door opened almost immediately.

What followed was two members of the SP on either side of the little secretary/receptionist from this morning, Rufus noted. She did not look frightened but allowed the SP to tow her to the desk, even if not extremely happy at the treatment.

"What is the problem?" Jamison asked, and waved to the chairs. Only the secretary sat down, holding something in her lap and looking with surprise that in another chair sat Rufus Shinra. He gave her a slight smile before looking at the SP.

"Sir, there is an object that we believe require your attention," the first man said, having dark hair and dark eyes. "Perhaps Miss Randall here can tell exactly what happened."

Kylie jumped slightly at being addressed and nodded. "I went on my lunch break this morning, as I am allowed to do, but when I came back this was sitting on my desk…"

She placed the object on the desk in front of Jamison. He looked down at it.

"It was wrapped in brown paper and said 'To: Mr. Shinra and Mr. Auhn,'" the second SP, a female, said.

This caused both Presidents' heads to snap up. "What?" Rufus hissed. Jamison held up a hand and looked at Kylie.

"So Miss Randall must know now," he said coolly. "Miss Randall this is President Shinra. You will call him President Core at any other time, do you understand me?"

Kylie looked up and nodded silently.

The SP man continued, "We looked over it thoroughly for bombs or any other sort of threat, but found nothing. Just this note that reads 'Plug into TV.'"

"When we did so nothing happened, so we believe it is safe," the SP female said.

There was silence in the room. Kylie shifted and the SP remained still, and the Presidents looked at each other. Immediately Jamison opened his laptop computer, and when he had gotten to where he wanted, he nodded grimly. "Perhaps this explains the strange email I received today."

The SP leaned in as did Rufus, and Kylie leaned back into her chair. Still she saw what the email said, though she already knew, seeing as she sent it from a computer bar during her lunch hour. "Turn it on at 6," the email read.

"The email was from a person I didn't know, and I didn't know the purpose. So I had the computer technicians look at it. They say the IP address is impossible to trace, because the sender rerouted it through so many computers it was lost. Someone knew what they were doing," Jamison said calmly.

"And someone," Rufus said icily, "doesn't want to be found. But someone knows who I am and not only that I am alive, but that I am a new President of Auhncore."

There was silence in the room, and the female SP checked her watch. "It is 5:50, sir, perhaps we should turn it on?"

There was a consideration, and then both Presidents nodded at each other. "If we don't, they will find another way. This is clear," Jamison said.

Everyone seemed to have forgotten Kylie existed, until Rufus turned to her. His eyes were playful and teasing when he looked at her, but his face was serious. "So _Miss _Randall," he said, "you have no idea who left this?"

She shook her head fearfully. "I'm afraid not," she said and turned to both Presidents. "I'm incredibly sorry," she told them. "I won't be fired, right?"

Jamison chuckled. "For taking a lunch break? No. But I do fear you know more than our own President Core's secretary knows about him…" Jamison said and strummed the desk. He nodded, deciding in an instant. "So it's settled. You will be Mr. Core's new secretary and receptionist. You will be a personal assistant, so to speak, and help him with everything and anything he needs." He gave a slight smile. "Quite a promotion."

Her mouth was dry. Never did AVALANCHE expect this, but she was trapped. There was no way to say no, and it gave her the perfect spying opportunity. She opened her mouth and he chuckled at her shock. "Thank…thank you sir," she breathed.

"Do you have any qualms with that, President Shinra?" Jamison asked Rufus, turning to him.

But Rufus didn't look at him back but his eyes on his new PA, glancing down her body at her nice form and 'endowments,' so to speak. When his eyes found her face her honey colored eyes were there and he smiled a slow, wolfish smile. "Not at all, President Auhn." He smirked. "Not at all."

The SP, meanwhile, had set up the device. It was a small screen with places to hold the screen at the sides, intended to watch movies on during trips. It also had a plug that plugged into a TV. Mr. Jamison had pressed a button that caused wood paneling to move and a large flat-screen TV pushed out. The SP plugged it in and Kylie made to stand up.

The time was now 5:55. Kylie knew that in three minutes this very office would be getting a video broadcast from a Junon warehouse, where the heroes would threaten Bee Shinra's life. Kylie would have a first-hand view of it from a matching device in her desk, and stood to leave. The SP nodded. The device had a stand and a little camera attached to the top, and when they turned the device on they got flickering, and then this camera's view. The SP stood it up so it gave a view of both Presidents. Jamison had come to sit in a chair beside Rufus, while Kylie left the room. The SP came to stand behind the chairs, an intimidating presence.

5:58. The screen went black.

5:59. Static crossed the screen, flickering over the black like a blizzard of grey and white.

6:00. A picture filled the screen.

In the middle of the picture was a girl, tied to a chair. Rufus Shinra's eyes widened at the familiar face of a girl he hadn't seen for 7 years. But his eyes also found the bottom of the chair, where the missing chunk of the leg was supported by a silver briefcase. Rufus's eyes grew wider. The girl strained against ropes and a gag that was tied around her mouth. Her hair was dank and limp with sweat that shimmered on her face and arms. Tears welled in her eyes, though she refused to let them fall.

On either side of the chair was a person. To the right of the prisoner was a man with a short, muscular build and spiky blonde hair. Covering his face was a white mask with holes for the eyes, nostrils and a small slit for the mouth. The mask covered the entire face, and the same sort of mask was on the figure to the prisoner's left, but her mask was black. She was short as well and had gloves on her hands and long, dark hair. Both figures were stock still and silent.

The man lifted a gun and held it to the girl's head. She fell still, her eyes wide and terrified.

"You have captured two members of the group AVALANCHE," a man's voice came, and another man walked onto screen and he also wore a mask. His mask was also white, but the slit in the lips was enough for him to speak and be heard clearly. "Vincent Valentine and Yuffie Kisaragi," he held a journal open and seemed to be reading from it, "and we want them released."

Jamison laughed coldly. "Over my dead body."

The man in the suit and white mask looked straight at the camera. "You say this now, Mr. Auhn, but listen to our proposition." He walked to stand just so that a clear view of the girl could be seen. "If you release our friends, we will give you this girl."

"Why would I care about that girl?" Jamison asked coldly.

The masked Suit Man did not move in provocation. "Well, Mr. Auhn, this girl right here is none other than Brooke Rachelle Shinra, the second child of the late President Shinra."

Jamison looked at Rufus, who made no sign of disagreeing.

"Why should I care about my sister?" Rufus said coldly. "She left at 17 and never came back - it is a good attempt but not good enough."

The masked man with the gun pressed it to her temple. Tears leaked out of her eyes.

"Even though Brooke ran away from home, her father never wrote her out of the will. As we have a copy of the document right here - and if you check your email you will as well - let me read it to you. 'In the matter of the inheritance of ShinRa Electric Power Company and all sub-companies or future companies to be formed in its name, each company will be half-owned by Rufus Ryker Shinra, and the other half of the company will be owned by Brooke Rachelle Shinra.' This applies to every company, as you heard, Mr. Presidents, owned by ShinRa or formed in its name. Your company, Auhncore, is both.

"As such you have divided your ownership in half, President Shinra, you each own one-fourth of the company. In such, Brooke Shinra owns half of the company. In such, Mr. Presidents, Brooke Shinra is the controlling partner."

The Suited Man closed his book and looked at the camera, striding towards it. "We will not kill her, Mr. Presidents. She would do us no good. But as of right now, the Board of Directors is being informed of the very facts I told you today. Whatever Brooke Shinra wants, goes. And since we control Brooke Shinra," the Gun Man pressed the gun against her temple, "what we want, goes. Now, we could run your entire company into the ground but that wouldn't do us much good. Then, the public would only view AVALANCHE worse. But we will do it. So if you release Yuffie Kisaragi and Vincent Valentine, we will release Brooke Shinra to you."

The man paused and blocked the view of Brooke. "Think it over, gentlemen. I will have your answer at this time tomorrow."

The screen went black, and the SP desperately tried to retrieve the signal, until Jamison held up a hand. He looked furious and turned to Rufus. "Did you know about this?"

Rufus did not look angry or upset, but there was a glittering in his eyes. "No," he said airily. "I wasn't aware…the official execution of the will was taking place at a very busy time for me. I must have overlooked it."

"How could you-" Jamison started, but Rufus turned on him.

"You foolish man stop your ranting," Rufus ordered, looking exalted. He turned towards Jamison.

Jamison Auhn was confused. "You heard them," he whispered fiercely, "you saw-"

"I saw what you didn't," Rufus cut in. "Did you see what was holding up her chair? I do, and I know that briefcase and if you had a mind on you, you would to. Do you not remember?"

Jamison looked confused, before understanding flooded his face. "The Lost Plan," he said breathlessly.

Rufus nodded slowly. "I don't know how but someone AVALANCHE - for indeed that was who that was - has gotten a hold of it. We demand that briefcase, and they will bring it to us, for only two people."

Jamison stood up and paced. "But it has taken so much to capture these two!"

"And we can capture them again, you know we can," Rufus said and stood walking behind the grey-haired man. "If we can get that briefcase, it will all be worth it. With that briefcase, we can start The Project again and once complete - once complete He will get us what we want. Don't you remember what that briefcase held?"

Jamison nodded, and he turned to Rufus, who only spoke two words.

"Project Resurrection."

* * *

**A/N: **New chapter. Freaking sweet. Haha yeahh, so here's a new chapter for ya'll! Brooke is a willing prisoner, Kylie works for Rufus and now the Wutai war has something to do with that mysterious line on Yuffie's neck? what the heck man? well, yeah, basically in a nutshell, it does. But that's all you can know!

And what is Project Ressurrection? Can't be good, know that much. Wait and find out, oooh. And yeah, made Brooke a 'prisoner.' trust me, absolutely necessary. But leave your questions, comments, concerns and I'll get back to you best I can!

On another note, I'm going over old chapters and fixing punctuation errors and other such awkwardnesses. I'm up to only chapter three though, haha, so who knows how long it will actually take! I'm trying to spruce it up though now rather than later!

Thanks to all my reviewers, hope this satisfies!


	25. Project: Resurrection

**Chapter 24**

Project: Resurrection

_"As we acquire more knowledge, things do not become more comprehensible, but more mysterious."_

When the video was off and the device was turned off, Tifa removed her mask and went to untie Brooke when Cloud called her over to where he was. Elena was sitting on the computer, which was how she'd recorded the other side of the conversation, using the small device in the President's office to also record Jamison and Rufus. This would enable AVALANCHE to note anything strange about Jamison's or Rufus's reactions. "Tifa," Cloud called, and Tifa held up a hand.

"Reno, untie her, would you?" she said as she went across into the second half of the warehouse, where the rest of AVALANCHE was crowded around the computer.

Reno smirked and gave the fist fighter a salute. He wore a mask himself because though only Brooke, Cloud, Tifa and Reeve had been recorded, had anything been needed the others were in masks and prepared to run on themselves. Reno walked up to her in his white mask, and she glared up at him. Both gagged and tied, Reno stood right in front of them, their legs touching.

"Well this is interesting," he said from behind his mask.

Brooke said nothing, but looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"You look a little, uh, tied up," he said. She could almost see his grin.

He pushed up his mask so she could see his face smirking down at her. She was glistening with sweat and the shiny oil Tifa had put on her face to make her seem sweatier than she was. Brooke - or Bee, as everyone who ever met her called her - was wearing a white button down with a blue camisole underneath, jeans and comfortable brown moccasins. He took care to look her down and up carefully, to earn her steady gaze. With some fumbling and working of the jaw, she caused the not-so-careful gag to fall out and fall around her neck.

"If you've had enough fun," she said steadily, staring him in the eyes, "you could untie me."

Reno smirked at her and pulled her gag back into her mouth, before jamming his hands into his pockets and strolling in the room. When he got there, Elena had a freeze frame of the screen and was using a line like a laser beam that came from the eyes of Jamison and Rufus.

"Jamison's focus is fixed at the appropriate place on the screen - following the central focus," Elena was explaining. She had a freeze frame up of their own recording, both at the same moment in time. "But Rufus…he isn't watching Reeve, and he isn't watching Brooke. His focus is below and if I use this eye line…" Elena said and used a paintbrush on the application to circle a spot on the freeze frame of their recording. "Then his focus is just around here," she said as she circled the chair legs and the area around it. The only thing other than the chair-legs and the floor in the picture was Yuffie's briefcase, which they had used to prop a chair up.

"Reno," Cloud said, not looking away from the screen. "Where did you get that briefcase?"

Reno shrugged. "Not mine. Yuffie had it when she met up with me. Tried to pick it."

Cloud looked at Reno and back at the screen, where Rufus stared at it. "Wherever she got it, Rufus recognizes it. He wants what's in the briefcase, more than he wants his sister."

"We have to open it," Nanaki said.

Reno laughed. "They'll be no picking that lock. I'm guessing Kisaragi was the best lock-pick of the bunch, and she couldn't get it open and not for lack of trying."

But Cid picked it up and looked at it. "I know this briefcase. Halliburton ZERO, used it for top secret documents when at ShinRa." He looked at the lock. "It's an older model, still nearly un-pickable, but something beens wearing away at this lock too."

Cloud nodded. "Are you saying you can get it open?"

Cid's mouth formed a grim line. "With the proper application of force…perhaps impact velocity would be enough," he trailed off.

"There he goes, talking like a damn engineer physicist man, like he's got a damn brain in his head," Barret grumbled.

Cid glared at him. "Are _you_ going to get this damn thing open?"

Barret said nothing.

"Didn't think so. Okay, I'm going to need a way to get to the loft in this warehouse."

* * *

Tifa looked around and saw Reno join the group, and furrowed her brow. "Reno, where's Brooke?"

Reno raised his eyebrows. "I don't know," he shrugged.

"Didn't you untie her?" Tifa asked and Reno shook his head.

"Thought you did," he said uncaringly. Tifa sent him a cold look and walked to see Brooke tied and gagged. Tifa jogged over to her and untied her and took out her gag. Brooke flexed her wrists and Reno walked by, pretending neither girl stood there. Tifa glared over at him and Brooke shook her head.

"Did you say something?" Tifa said, brow furrowing. "Something to offend him? Reno never acts like this; he flirts with anything with a chest and usually doesn't let words get to him."

Brooke shook her head and rubbed chafed wrists. "Not exactly," Brooke murmured.

Tifa shook her head, "Well, Brooke-"

"It's Bee," she interrupted, and laughed. "Everyone calls me Bee. No one calls me Brooke."

Tifa nodded and helped her up and out of the chair.

"Well, if I'm going to be traded to my brother, could I get some things from my apartment?" Bee asked, but Cloud apparently heard.

"No," he said, and Tifa and Bee turned to him. "If someone notices stuff is missing from your apartment - like the police - they'll know the operation isn't legit. And if someone sees you come back here," he trailed off in his explanation. Bee nodded in understanding, but her lips were pressed together and she had an odd look on her face.

"Do you work?" he asked.

"Well," Bee paused, her eyes squinting as she looked up at the ceiling, "I'm taking a bit of time off."

"Besides," a new voice cut in. "I'm sure she has plenty of money from Daddy-dearest's will."

Everyone looked at Reno, lounging on a makeshift chair made from crates. He was twirling his nightstick in his hand, and pulled the mask down. "Of course," he said from behind the mask, and tilted his head, "if you didn't claim ShinRa maybe you didn't claim that."

Bee ignored him. "But I don't have any weapons," she said bluntly.

Cloud shook his head. "You won't need any. If you have a weapon, Rufus will question if you were a captive."

Bee nodded and her pale blue eyes slid over to the masked Reno, who nodded at her. "Well," she said, looking back at Tifa. "I guess I'm stuck."

Reno just stared from behind his mask.

* * *

Shera blinked bleary eyes open, blinking the confusion and cloudiness out. She smiled.

It had been two weeks. Two weeks from the day her baby had been born. She'd gone into labor, she remembered. She remembered being carted to that bed, and she remembered the doctor saying the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck, and they had to do a C-Section.

And she remembered she'd always wanted to be awake for her child's birth, but as it had been an emergency she hadn't the option. She sat up, feeling nauseous at her attempt at sudden movement (the anesthesia had that effect for weeks after) when a woman ran over and gently pushed her down. "Would you liked to see your baby?" she asked, smiling.

"Yes," Shera breathed.

During her pregnancy, having to hide her pregnancy meant that she didn't get to have check-ups or sonograms. Anything that would make sure the baby was okay, anything to tell her the gender of her baby. Therefore, every time she woke she wanted to see her baby. The nurse came in with a bundle in her arms and Shera's breath caught. The nurse leaned over and handed her the baby.

"Here he is," the nurse said softly, smiling.

Shera's eyes flooded with love and joy at the sight of her baby boy. The baby looked up at her and he had Cid's eyes, Cid's color eyes that were so blue they seemed plucked straight from the sky above. The nurse watched as Shera held her bundle tight to her. After all they'd been through, after it all, she had a baby.

A baby Cid didn't even know about

Still, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the baby's face, where it blinked at her and wriggled his nose. "Would you like to name him yet?" the nurse said warmly, and Shera looked up surprised, forgetting she'd been there.

For two weeks, Shera had been thinking of a name. She wished Cid and she could have decided together, but Cid wasn't here and she knew some of the types of names Cid preferred ("_Solid man names - no nancy names for a boy."_) "Yes, I want to name him."

The nurse smiled at her, but Shera only looked up for a moment. "Cole," she said, looking at the boy's eyes. Cid would like it, she knew he would. "Cole Lucas Highwind."

The nurse smiled and left the room, but only after another man had entered. He hung by the door as Shera cradled her baby, smiling down at her adorable miracle. It took her several moments to realize there was even someone else in the room, and she looked up in surprise.

"He's beautiful," the brown-haired man said, and Shera smiled.

"Isn't he?" she sighed.

Parker looked at the child. He was two weeks old now, and Shera had asked for him every time she woke up. Now they were housing three out of four known family members of Avalanche, and something told him they'd have to stock up all four soon. Auhncore was moving in on Wutai, and if they didn't act soon, there might be a move to kidnap the Ruler.

RESCUE had taken Marlene Wallace into custody, and rescued Shera when she'd been in the tunnel, running from the SP. RESCUE - the Restorative Embassy for Social and Cultural Understanding and Edification - was the organization formed and lead by Parker first after ShinRa fell. Their intention was to rebuild society and make a social order that wasn't led by lies and wouldn't succumb to an empire. Their cause, however, had barely gotten off the ground when Auhncore was formed.

RESCUE had then done all they can to peel back the layers on Auhncore, putting spies into the building and corporation and having members all over. Often members had to go into hiding, as now a-days, open support of AVALANCHE or anti-Auhncorianism would get you captured or killed. They lived in a messy world.

So RESCUE continued their cause, trying to make Auhncore fall while battling the lies they sent out. They were often confused as a pro-AVALANCHE group or group designed to help AVALANCHE, but this was false. AVALANCHE was in the right, however, and on the same side of Auhncore as RESCUE, so they were not only a beacon and a symbol for RESCUE, but a cause for hope. So they would help the Heroes and anyone against Auhncore, and that meant keeping the family safe.

Now, intelligence was out that he needed to share with Shera. "Shera," he said, and she looked up at him, smiling. "Shera we've received news from our spies in Auhncore."

Shera sat up straight. Even Shera didn't know everything about RESCUE, and she looked at him sharply. "Is it Cid?" she asked too quickly for the calm impression she was trying to give. But her eyes were filled with worry and her shoulders slumped with fear. Fear was etched into every part of her being.

"In a manner," Parker said. Shera started to shake. "Our intelligence has confirmed that as of one week ago, Yuffie Kisaragi and Vincent Valentine infiltrated Auhncore and freed AVALANCHE."

Shera gasped and clutched her baby to her chest, and the baby began to make pre-cry breaths, feeling his mother's shakes and shift in mood. She soothed it before looking up at Parker in shock. "H-How?"

"Well, long story short, by freeing their team members, they got themselves captured. Your husband isn't in jail anymore Shera."

Shera seemed not to be able to process all this information, squeezing her eyes shut and opening them as she looked down, her baby's blue eyes meeting hers. Eyes like Cid's. Parker walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Listen to me Shera," he said softly, and she looked up at him.

He looked down at her with those intense eyes, filled with righteousness and determination. His brown hair brushed across his forehead and his jaw was set in decisiveness. "We're going to look for them, and there is coming unconfirmed intelligence that will help us. We're going to try to find them and keep them away from Auhncore, keep them from taking him away again.

Shera's eyes filled with tears and she nodded, trying to believe him. He gripped her shoulder and she looked up again, meeting his eyes.

"Shera," he said, "we're going to find your husband."

She nodded.

* * *

Cid had spent the last hour or so drawing up plans and doodles and even some equations for getting the briefcase to open. Looking around and figuring out the dimensions of the warehouse and the right way for the briefcase to hit had been the easy part - now he had to put it into motion. Wincing as he moved, he stood. He straightened and held his ribs, cussing about feeling like an old man.

"Looks like you got beat up pretty good there," Bee said as she smiled.

Cid shot her a glare. "No kidding," he growled.

She walked over and patted the crate. "Sit," she ordered. He looked at her disbelievingly and she smiled and shimmied her shoulders as though she was trying to captivate him. He shook his head and sat.

"I don't see what you're going to-" he was interrupted with a grunt as she gently touched the area around his head. She opened her purse and she went around to his front and crouched down.

"How have you been feeling?" she asked as she dug in her purse. "And don't bullshit me."

"Dizzy," he muttered as she looked at him. He was pale and looked hollowed out. "Kinda nauseous."

"Any extreme thirst?" she asked as she held his eyes open and looked at them each in turn.

He nodded gruffly. "Yeah," he muttered. "So what are you doing?"

She looked him over, ignoring his question. "They cut you up bad," she commented. "Is this the worst they've ever done?"

Cid nodded.

"Alright," she muttered as she inspected his split lip and his nose. Two bits of tissue were stuck up there and dotted with red. "I'm going to need you to take off your shirt."

His brows furrowed and he would have jumped up if it didn't hurt. "What the %&#$? Why in the hell would I do that?"

"Listen-" Bee started.

"I ain't strippin' down for some weird ass reason, Shinra," he spat.

She frowned slightly. His face showed that he was not over her family, but there was nothing she could do about that. Bee was a Shinra no matter what, and Cid wasn't going to accept that anytime soon. "Listen, Cid, you've been severely injured. You guys don't have any materia and they didn't give you medical attention. Right now, your skin is pale which may be showing signs of perfusion. Give me your hand," she said.

"What? Why-" he started, but she already grabbed it.

He'd been tortured by shoving bamboo rods or other such things under his fingernails, which is unbelievable painful. He'd already washed his hands under water, but there was still some dried blood. So she took a finger that hadn't been tortured and pushed down on it until it was white. Then she counted as his finger went to normal color. "See? Your capillary refill time is slow. Normal time is two seconds and you are well over that." She raised her eyebrows. "These signs are not good, and pointing towards hypovolemia. Now, take off your shirt," she softly ordered.

He met her eyes sharply, and they paused for a moment before begrudgingly taking off his shirt. He winced as he did and she hissed in sympathy. His ribs were mottled with purple and there were a welt or two on his back. She shook her head and went to work. She was looking at his cuts and she took an arm gently. First she put two fingers to his wrist and looked at a stopwatch, and then put the fingers on his neck. Out of her purse she took a device with a hand pump and she strapped a black thing around his bicep. It measured blood pressure, Cid remembered, and she pumped on it until it was snug on his arm. She frowned, and he didn't like that. "What?" he asked grumpily.

"Your pulse is elevated, your blood pressure is low and there is a lack of perfusion. You have hypovolemia."

"What?" he asked.

"In normal people terms, you have blood loss. Right now its minor, and you're just beginning to show clinical signs. But I have to check your ribs and try to make sure you don't have internal bleeding."

Cid frowned but let her carefully touch his chest. She would touch a spot and ask if it hurt. When she got to the right side, halfway down his torso he yelped as she softly touched a spot. The bruising was worst here and she asked him if it hurt when she touched in a spot near it. He cussed and told her that yes, it did. She looked at his cuts on his ribs and arms. Then she inspected his nose and head wound. Returning to his chest, she touched the rest of the chest to make sure there was no other severe pain.

"What're you two doing there?" a drawl came, and Cid looked up to see Reno standing there, looking down at the two blondes. Then he smirked. "Can't keep your hands off him Blondie?"

Bee bit her lip. "I'm making sure that Cid isn't going to die because no one here could take a moment to look at how badly he's hurt," she said though a smile spread on her face as she looked up at the redhead. "So, for just one moment, back up and just let me check out Cid."

Reno smirked. "I'm sure you'd like to check out Cid."

Bee grinned and flipped her blonde hair over a shoulder. Then she turned back to Cid and sighed. "Alright Cid, here's the diagnosis. You have minor hypovolemia. By fixing all these cuts and with some rest and I'm going to give you some sugars and electrolytes, that will be fine. You have a broken nose, which is going to hurt, but if I move it back into place it will heal well on its own. You have a minor head laceration that is going to need stitches, as well as some of the worse cuts on you, but that will be fine too. Luckily you don't have a concussion, but you do have a fractured rib. I can take care of all this, if you trust me to take care of it."

Cid frowned at her. "And why should I?" he growled. "Who are you to take care of all this shit?"

"I'm a doctor Cid," she informed him, and patted his arm. "Now let me fix you up."

Reno walked off as Bee took out a stitching kit. He clenched his teeth and grunted as she stitched up the wound on his head, making sure to cleanse it and sterilize all instruments. The other room heard a yelp, a grunt and a smash and Bee came out with blood on her hands. "Hey," she said cooly, "Cid passed out. Anyone got water?"

She continued in her fixing of him until all the cuts were cured with cure materia and the ones too big for cure alone were stitched up. She used adhesive tape to restrict movement to help it heal, since it was a minor fracture. She used a sheet she found in a crate to put the arm on the same side of the fractured rib into a sling. Then she gave him some ibuprofen and smiled. "All better," she grinned.

Cid frowned and shifted. "So you're a doctor?" he grunted.

"Yeah," she smiled. "Weird career history too."

There was silence as she stood and put the things she carried (she explained to him she carried some basic things with her at all times) back in her purse. "Every day come to me two times - morning and afternoon - and I'll give you ibuprofen and a dose of Cure."

He nodded and went to go open the briefcase.

* * *

A day had passed. It was time for the Presidents to tune in and give them their answer. Tifa was crossing her fingers as she put on her mask, and Reno had his mask on and was lounging by the camera. Cloud took his station by the chair, where Bee was sitting. Her arms were tied behind the chair and her mouth gagged. They'd prerecorded a clip of her struggling, then static and then Cloud hitting her with the base of the gun. Now she was posed with her head dropped to her chest and a nasty looking wound on the right side of her forehead. Tifa took her position, and Reeve took his as well. Cloud had the gun at his side, which - Reno noted - as actually Reno's gun.

Six o'clock hit, and Elena sent through the clip of Cloud knocking out the struggling Brooke, before flipping to the live footage. They received the image of Rufus and Jamison sitting in chairs in front of their video, smiling in a way no one liked. But the masks made them remain expressionless. Reeve strolled onto screen. "I trust you have our answer?" Reeve said smoothly, looking at the camera from behind his mask.

Rufus nodded smugly, and Jamison gave a curt one. "Yes," Jamison answered shortly.

Reeve looked at the camera, "So now it's about terms," he said.

Rufus shook his head, "Not so fast, sailor." He smiled and settled comfortably in his chair, looking at the screen with ice blue eyes. "Yes, we will trade Yuffie Kisaragi and Vincent Valentine-"

"-unharmed-" Reeve interrupted.

"-yes, unharmed, to you, in exchange for Brooke Shinra. But that seems a bit unfair, doesn't it? Two for one doesn't seem a fair trade. So perhaps we will trade Brooke Shinra for _one_ of these 'Heroes.'"

Cloud wanted to shake his head, but Reeve was already on it. "Our terms, or your secret leaks."

Jamison laughed cruelly. "And who would believe you? You're either a fugitive, if you are who we think you are, or a nobody."

Reeve frowned, but his mask showed nothing.

"We want the briefcase that is currently propping up your chair," Rufus said smoothly. "This is all we ask for. A briefcase, for a person."

Reeve stared blankly, and walked back to Cloud. He bowed his head for a moment, and there was a hushed argument. Cloud shook his head but Reeve nodded, and whispered, and Cloud nodded reluctantly. Reeve walked to the screen. "We want Yuffie and Vincent unharmed and whole, and AVALANCHE's weapons."

Rufus nodded.

"It is a deal. We will meet you at midnight tonight on the roof of the Auhncore building. No guards, or they will be taken out. If you try anything, you will not get your sister or the briefcase."

Jamison nodded. "The terms are fair."

Reeve nodded. "Tonight, midnight."

Jamison and Rufus nodded; the last image before the screen went to static, and then went blank.

* * *

Now that the conversation was over, Elena unplugged the connection to assure there would be no chance of them seeing through. Only then were the masks removed, and Bee untied. Tifa shoved smelling salts under the blonde's nose and she sat up with a start, coughing through her gag. Gag removed, she stood and brushed herself off. She smirked good-naturedly. "Now, lets open up this up," she said enthusiastically and got the briefcase out.

Indeed, though it had taken the better part of the night and day, Cid had broken the lock on the Halliburton - only to have to set it up for the video. Bee handed off the briefcase to Cloud, who placed it on a crate while everyone gathered around. Without hesitation or ceremony, he opened the briefcase.

The circle tightened and everyone leaned in for a look. Inside the briefcase was a binder with a clear plastic cover, and a stack of papers inside. The cover of the paper only bore two words: Project Resurrection. The ShinRa symbol was emblazoned below, and everyone exchanged nervous looks. Also in the briefcase was a small wooden box that, when opened, housed and cushioned two short, corked test tubes. One was filled with a glowing yellow liquid, and the other with a glowing red liquid.

Cloud sat down and pulled back the plastic cover, and then flipped past the cover page. Everyone sat in a rough circle, and she placed the binder flat so that everyone could see. The heading of the page he read from read Project History. "Project Resurrection," he read out loud, "is devoted to finding away to bring previously deceased peoples back to a living state."

Bee looked up with her eyes wide, exposing their ice blue color. Tifa looked apprehensive, eyes narrowing and her lips pressing together. Cloud looked at them and looked back down. "Project Resurrection was started by Professor Hojo after the last Ancient was killed. The Project's purpose is devoted not only to bringing back the deceased, but furthering the understanding of death and its boundaries."

Cid scoffed. "All fancy shit for Hojo's sick &%$ing mind," he growled.

Cloud continued as most of the faces surrounding him turned into shocked or disgusted expressions. "Project Resurrection was abandoned facing the other direction of Professor Hojo's studies and, later, his death. Apprentice Bradley brought the project to the attention of Auhncore's Science Department. It was then, upon permission and request of Mr. Jamison Auhn, picked up by the Science Department's own Head, Professor Rollup. Project Resurrection is now underway and in progress."

Only nervous shuffling and shifting broke the silence that settled over them. Cloud turned to the next page, as it described the process Professor Hojo had formed, with diagrams included. Apparently, if a body was preserved or newly deceased, as long as there were no major wounds (or any such wounds were fixed), an injection of the yellow substance was injected into the brain, and immediately after (there was a limited window for it to work) the red substance had to be injected straight to the heart. The yellow substance protected the brain from brain damage, since the brain was the most difficult part to revive. In the following Project Summary, they learned that in early experiments, the subject's body would come back but would be in an unresponsive coma due to being brain-dead. Continuing, apparently the subjects would suffer from amnesia, or lose skills such as speaking or control over basic bodily functions, and would be basically mentally retarded. Finally the substance was formed from a outlining of Dr. Hojo's that revived the brain to its full capacity. The details of the substance were lost on the group members, except maybe Reeve and Bee who were listening intently before Cloud gave up. Finally subjects were brought back that were fully revived. The exception was that on all the subjects, only those who had been exposed to mako or Jenova cells could be revived.

"Once there was certainty on the revival, the Project Leader/Manager procured the body of Dr. Hojo, preserved in a freezer and all wounds taken care of in the best fashion possible for a corpse. At this point, Professor Hojo was revived and successfully brought back to life."

At this, everyone in the room started talking. Tifa gasped while Barret and Cid loudly cussed. Reeve clapped a hand to his forehead while Red's brow furrowed as he turned to read the exact words of the report. Bee sat silently, finally letting out mumbles in the form of short breaths. Reno's eyebrows were raised and Rude showed no emotion. Elena, on the other hand, was scowling. The Turks, Elena especially, had always had a particular dislike for the resident mad scientist.

Cloud spoke up over them all, reading, "We have further hopes for the Project, hoping to be able to obtain and revive Specimen JP1."

At this the summary ended, and the briefcase was apparently lost, though they of course no one knew how or where. Cloud, however, would ask once more. "Are you certain Yuffie never mentioned where she got the briefcase?" The leader said, turning to the Turks.

"Just said she found it," Reno said, as the other two shook their head. "Never asked more."

Cloud frowned, and looked down, his face showing anger. "Hojo's back," he said quietly, looking up with only his eyes at the group. The silence was chilling, and their expressions were grim. "He's back and probably going to go right back to Auhncore and lead the Science Department, and is going to keep on going."

"I think," Tifa said softly, "that before we do anything, we need to keep reading."

Reeve and Nanaki nodded in agreement, and all eyes turned to Cloud. He sighed, though he knew Tifa was right. He turned the page. The following pages were all reports on specific experiments and the first ones of people of all different ages. The ones that were unsuccessful had a stamped 'FAILED' under the picture. Every time Cloud saw it (which was a lot at first, before they figured out mako had to be involved) he flinched. Finally, they got to the report on Hojo. The scientist, ironically, had a number, a label. He was PR41, and he was success. The report detailed nothing new, only that the man had come back with more strength and vitality than some others, despite his long time dead. He also had mild amnesia. That was the last case report, however, that was done before the briefcase was sent to wherever it was going. But the next page Cloud turned to was chilling.

The title was Specimen JP1, and under it sat a picture and the usual information graph. The picture, however, was so familiar that it chilled Cloud's blood. Staring up with green eyes from the picture was the face of the famed General Sephiroth.

Cloud dropped the report in shock, and everyone looked at him in concern. Tifa was immediately asking what was wrong, and the others started talking, but they were all a buzz in his ears. They were all white noise as he stared down at the smug picture of the General who'd he'd defeated already, the General who'd, even in death, managed to ruin Cloud's life. Tifa was asking him what was wrong, but Bee was leaning in with Reeve, and they looked up with shock.

"Sephiroth," Reeve breathed, and everyone turned to him. Even Tifa slowly looked over, only Cloud staring down at the picture still. "They're going to try and revive Sephiroth," he said, and everyone was lost in a sea of noise.

Bee took the report into her lap, looking at the pictures and diagrams and reading over certain things as everyone else panicked. At the report's moving, Cloud looked up with a snapping of the head, his eyes blank. Tifa was afraid for him and unsure of what to do. "Cloud?" the brunette asked apprehensively.

"They're going to bring him back," he said blankly. "Not again."

Cid and Barret exchanged a look and even Reeve was frowning.

"So we have to stop them before they do," Tifa said with a nod, and Cloud nodded faintly.

"They can't get that briefcase," Nanaki said to the group.

A smile slid onto Bee's face. "Oh they can get the briefcase," she said, and Elena nodded, picking up the direction she was going.

"They just can't get what's inside the briefcase," Elena said, continuously nodding.

"We have to fool them," Bee said with a grin.

Cloud nodded his agreement, echoing her. "We have to fool them."

* * *

**A/N****: **So after an insanely long wait heres another chapter...very sorry I'm much ahead of this now but with starting college and everything I barely have time for this. So I'm uploading multiple chapters now!

Anyway, lots going on! The baby is born, the meeting is set, and Project: Resurrection is revealed. Hojo is alive, Sephiroth is getting brought back and everything is a hot mess. Gotta love it.

Thanks to all the reviewers, we've broken 400 reviews now whoo! Thanks for sticking with the story after all this time, hope I don't disappoint.


	26. FML

Hello all,

So many of you have wondered why I haven't updated...well sadly its not that I lost the will to write, but rather, the flash drive where I kept it (and was about 10 chapters ahead of the last update) broke. Not so much broke as bent slightly and won't be read by my computer. I need to take it in and see if it can be fixed, but until then, I'm sorry and I'm not sure when this will continue. Thanks and sorry.


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